Lebanon’s financial losses from Israeli airstrikes could surpass $20 billion, reports the Lebanese magazine L’Orient Today, with the percentage of people living in extreme poverty potentially reaching 80% in affected areas.
These findings follow a United Nations report stating that the Israel-Hezbollah conflict is likely to erase 9% of Lebanon’s GDP, worsening the country’s ongoing economic crisis.
Three journalists working for Lebanese media outlets were killed in Israeli bombings in southern Lebanon, with Al Jazeera reporting that no evacuation order had been issued for the area by Israel.
Ceasefire negotiations for Gaza are scheduled to resume in Qatar in the coming days, according to officials from Israel, the United States, and Qatar.
The journalists were sleeping in their accommodation, which housed several reporters in southern Lebanon, in an area removed from the active conflict between the Israeli army and Hezbollah.
“This is a very serious incident. Israel gave no warning,” reported Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan from the southern Lebanese town. “Hasbaiyya is not under any evacuation order and had, in fact, been relatively calm.”
Journalists at the scene indicated that the accommodation where the reporters stayed appeared to have been a direct target.
