An Israeli strike earlier this year in southern Lebanon, which claimed the life of journalist Amal Khalil and injured another, has been condemned by rights organizations as a likely “war crime.”
The assault occurred on April 22 in the village of Al-Tiri, just days following the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the militant group.
Khalil, a 42-year-old journalist for the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, and a freelance videographer, Zeinab Faraj, had sought shelter in a building after an Israeli missile struck a vehicle ahead of theirs.
Their shelter was later targeted, leading to Khalil’s demise, while Faraj was eventually saved. Lebanese officials, however, criticized the Israeli military for allegedly hindering rescue operations to aid Khalil while she remained alive.
On Thursday, Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International, along with The Legal Agenda—a Lebanese rights organization—disclosed their investigations’ findings about the attack.
HRW said the Israeli strikes “included apparently deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects, which would make them war crimes”.
Amnesty decried a “direct attack on civilians which should be investigated as a war crime”.
Both groups said the Israeli army “knew or should have known” that the pair were civilians, noting Israeli drones were present at the attack site.
The Legal Agenda said its investigation found that the Israeli military’s actions “constitute war crimes and grave violations of international humanitarian law”.
The Israeli army at the time said it struck a vehicle “that had departed from a military structure used by Hezbollah”, and that “subsequently, the structure from which the individuals had fled was also struck”.
It denied its forces prevented rescue teams from reaching the area.
Amnesty said the Israeli army told it that “the incident underwent a preliminary review, and relevant lessons were implemented accordingly”, adding that it “regrets any harm caused to journalists”.
Khalil was a veteran correspondent for Al-Akhbar and had consistently reported from south Lebanon, both after Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on 2 March by attacking Israel, and during a previous conflict in 2023-2024.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, “15 journalists and media workers have been killed by Israel” in Lebanon since October 2023.
That month, Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was killed, and six others were wounded in an Israeli attack, including Agence France-Presse journalists Dylan Collins and Christina Assi, who had to have a leg amputated.
Amnesty’s Heba Morayef said that “the impunity enjoyed by Israeli forces for the killing of journalists and other civilians in Lebanon over the past three years has enabled the Israeli military to continue with its unlawful air strikes, including direct attacks on civilians”.