Deadly Israeli attack on Lebanese journalists should be investigated as possible war crime

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A deadly Israeli attack on a group of journalists in southern Lebanon should be investigated as a possible war crime, international rights groups said on Thursday.

The October 13 attack killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and injured six others.

The attack came as the Israel forces and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah exchanged cross-border fire.

Amnesty International said it had verified more than 100 videos and photographs, interviewed witnesses and analysed weapon fragments from the scene.

The investigation found an Israeli tank fired the first strike at 6.02pm, killing Abdallah and severely injuring AFP photojournalist Christina Assi. The latter, who lost a leg, has undergone more than 15 operation since the attack. A second strike 37 seconds later, from a different weapon, landed near an Al Jazeera car, which caught fire.

“Our investigation into the incident uncovers chilling evidence pointing to an attack on a group of international journalists who were carrying our their work by reporting on hostilities,” said Aya Majzoub, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“Direct attacks on civilians and indiscriminate attacks are absolutely prohibited by international humanitarian law and can amount to war crimes,” she said.

Amnesty said that on October 13, the journalist group had been wearing protective equipment marked “press”, while one of the cars had “TV” emblazoned on the roof.

The group had been stationary near the border village of Alma Al Chaab in an open area for about an hour before the attack.

“The findings indicate that the group was visibly identifiable as journalists and that the Israeli military knew or should have known that they were civilians, yet attacked them anyway in two separate strikes 37 seconds apart,” Amnesty said.

Ms Mazjoub said that those responsible for Abdallah’s death and the attack on the group of journalists “must be held accountable”.