Amnesty International has called for a thorough investigation into an Israeli strike on journalists in South Lebanon, which is suspected to be a direct attack on civilians. This demand arises following an incident on October 13, where Israeli forces targeted a group of journalists, resulting in the death of Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and injuries to six others. Amnesty International asserts that this incident should be investigated as a potential war crime.
The incident occurred near the village of Alma al-Chaab in South Lebanon, where journalists had gathered to report on ongoing clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah. Just before the strike, the journalists were filming an Israeli military post on the border with Lebanon, capturing footage of military infrastructure including a watchtower, antennae, and an Israeli Merkava tank firing towards Lebanon. The first strike, originating from an Israeli tank, killed Issam Abdallah and severely injured Christina Assi, a photographer for AFP. A second strike soon after caused a vehicle to catch fire and further injured journalists.
Amnesty International, emphasizing the need for an independent and impartial investigation, noted that no fighters or military targets were apparent at the site of the strikes. The organization has sent inquiries to Lebanon’s Ministry of Defence, UNIFIL, and the Israeli military regarding the attack but has not received responses at the time of publication. The journalists at the scene were clearly identifiable as press, with body armor labeled “press” and marked vehicles, suggesting they were not in a suspicious location but one that was openly exposed for journalistic purposes.
Human Rights Watch also echoed the sentiment that the strikes appeared to be a deliberate attack on civilians, qualifying as a war crime. A Reuters investigation found that the Israeli tank crew targeted the journalists while they were filming cross-border shelling from a distance.
