A strike on Saturday killed three journalists in Lebanon's Jezzine: Ali Shoeib of Hezbollah's Al Manar channel and Fatima Ftouni of Al Mayadeen, seen as close to the Iran-backed movement, along with Ftouni's brother, cameraman Mohammad Ftouni.

The Israeli military said it had killed Shoeib soon after the strike, alleging that he "operated within the Hezbollah terrorist organisation under the guise of a journalist".

On Monday, the military confirmed it had killed Mohammad Ftouni in the same strike.

It alleged that Mohammad Ftouni "an additional terrorist in Hezbollah's military wing, who also operated under the guise of a journalist, was eliminated".

The military has not provided any evidence to support its claims that Shoeib and Ftouni were Hezbollah operatives.

"We emphasise that the IDF directs its strikes to target terrorists, and not journalists," the military said.

Asked on Monday by AFP to provide evidence for its claims, the military said: "No what we have is what we can state."

Shoeib was a veteran correspondent for Al Manar TV, who had covered conflicts and politics in Lebanon for decades.

In its statement on Monday the military further said that it was "aware of reports that an additional female journalist who was with the terrorists was killed in the strike" over the weekend.

- 11 journalists killed in Lebanon -

Since the start of a previous round of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in 2023, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has documented at least 11 journalists and press workers killed by Israel in Lebanon.

In the Gaza Strip, where Israel fought a war against Palestinian armed group Hamas from October 2023 until a ceasefire last year, 210 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed by the Israeli military, the CPJ said.

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

Israel responded with large-scale airstrikes across Lebanon and a ground offensive in the south.

Lebanese authorities say at least 1,189 people have been killed since the hostilities broke out.

Six Israeli soldiers have also been killed in combat in southern Lebanon, the military said.