"If it is indeed confirmed that the journalists in question were deliberately targeted by the Israeli army, then this is extremely serious and a blatant violation of international law," Jean-Noel Barrot told public broadcaster France 3.

He said journalists in war zones "must never be targeted in theatres of war, including when they have links with parties to the conflict".

The Israeli military confirmed it killed correspondent Ali Shoeib of Hezbollah's Al Manar channel.

It accused him, without providing evidence, of having "operated within the Hezbollah terrorist organisation under the guise of a journalist".

It alleged that he was a member of an elite Hezbollah unit and had been working to "expose the locations of IDF soldiers operating in southern Lebanon".

Shoeib was one of Al Manar's most prominent war correspondents, having covered Israeli attacks on Lebanon for decades.

The Israeli strike also killed Fatima Ftouni, a correspondent for the pro-Hezbollah Al Mayadeen channel, and her brother, cameraman Mohammad Ftouni.

Lebanese authorities, including President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, have condemned the journalists' killings as war crimes.

Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war when Tehran-backed Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader in the opening salvo of the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic.

Israel has responded with large-scale airstrikes across Lebanon and a ground offensive in the south, with Lebanese authorities reporting at least 1,189 people killed since the hostilities broke out.

Barrot stressed the need for the Lebanese government to restore the "authority of the state so that it can hold the monopoly on weapons, protect all communities, and live in peace and security with its neighbours".