Two Lebanese journalists killed by Israel laid to rest

Two Lebanese journalists killed in an Israeli strike yesterday were commemorated in a ceremony in Beirut on Wednesday, after which their bodies were taken to be laid to rest.

Farah Omar and Rabiah Maamiri, who worked for Al-Mayadeen TV, were killed by an Israeli bomb in the southwestern border town of Tayr Harfa on Tuesday while they were reporting on the ongoing clashes between Hezbollah and Israel which broke out following the start of Israel's war on Gaza.

One other person was also killed.

The director of Al Mayadeen, Ghassan bin Jeddo, said that Israel's strike was a "direct attack" on the journalists, while Lebanon's government has condemned the apparent targeting of members of the press as a war crime.

Members of the press, the family of the slain journalists and politicians gathered to mourn and express solidarity with the bereaved.

"I tell you that you will not be able to gag the voices of Al Mayadeen. Know that no matter how many you kill, we will go on," bin Jeddo said at the funeral, addressing Israel.

The director of the pro-Iran Lebanese outlet further promised to continue their coverage in Lebanon and Gaza.

The head of the International Union of Resistance Scholars, Sheikh Maher Hammoud, called the two journalists "martyrs on the road to Jerusalem."

A funeral procession then took the body of Maamiri to southern Beirut, where he was buried in a cemetery dedicated to Hezbollah fighters and scholars. Omar was taken to her hometown of Mshagrha in the Bekaa valley.

Israel has killed 14 civilians – three of which were journalists – during the tit-for-tat clashes between it and Hezbollah since 8 October.

Israel has claimed that it does not intentionally target journalists and that it will investigate its strike on members of the press on 13 October which killed Reuters photographer Essam Abdullah and severely wounded three others.

Exchanges of rocket fire have escalated over the past weeks, with the intensity and breadth of strikes increasing with each passing day.

On Wednesday, a Hezbollah official told Al Jazeera that the group would respect the four-day-ceasefire announced by Hamas and Israel – on the condition that Israel also not fire on the Lebanese border.

A ceasefire would allow the around 30,000 displaced border residents to return to their homes, at least temporarily.