An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon in April kills journalist Amal Khalil and seriously wounds freelance cameraperson Zeinab Faraj, according to multiple human-rights investigations released this week. The organisations say the attack appears to be a deliberate targeting of civilians, and they urge war-crime investigations.
The reports describe the incident on 22 April in the village of al-Tiri. Khalil, who worked for the daily newspaper Al-Akhbar, and Faraj had taken shelter in a building after an Israeli strike hit a vehicle travelling ahead of them. Faraj is reported to have been rescued, while Lebanese authorities accuse Israeli forces of obstructing rescue efforts to save Khalil while she was still alive.
Across outlets, the investigations are attributed to Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Lebanon’s The Legal Agenda. Human Rights Watch characterises the strike as apparently deliberate attacks on civilians that would constitute a war crime, while Amnesty calls it a direct attack on civilians and also seeks a war-crime investigation. The coverage also notes that the UN human rights office says deliberate attacks on civilians meet the definition of a war crime.
