Rights groups accuse Israel of war crimes in killing of Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and The Legal Agenda published separate investigations on August 6 concluding that an Israeli attack on the Lebanese village of al-Tiri on April 22, which killed journalist Amal Khalil and wounded photographer Zeinab Faraj, amounted to a war crime.
The attack on al-Tiri
On April 22, the Israeli army attacked the village of al-Tiri in southern Lebanon, days after a ceasefire between Israel and the Islamist Hezbollah militia had been announced. A vehicle traveling ahead of the journalists' car was struck first, killing two people. The journalists' car was then attacked, prompting Amal Khalil, a 42-year-old reporter for the daily newspaper Al-Akhbar, and freelance photographer Zeinab Faraj to seek shelter in a nearby building. That building was subsequently attacked as well. Faraj was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries; Khalil was buried under rubble. Her body was recovered later. The death of Khalil, who had covered the conflict between the pro-Iranian Hezbollah and Israel from southern Lebanon regularly in March and April, shocked the country.
War crime findings
On Thursday, August 6, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Lebanese organization The Legal Agenda published separate reports concluding that the attack amounted to a war crime. HRW described "apparently deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects, which constitutes a war crime." Amnesty denounced a "direct attack on civilians" and called for a war crime investigation to be opened. The Legal Agenda's own probe concluded there had been "war crimes and serious violations of international humanitarian law." According to the UN human rights office, deliberate attacks on civilians are considered a war crime.
Both HRW and Amnesty concluded that the Israeli army "knew or should have known" that the two women were civilians, pointing to Israeli drones flying at low altitude over the area. The investigations found that the presence of these drones meant the military had visual awareness of who was on the ground. HRW's Lebanon expert addressed the broader pattern of attacks on journalists.
The Israeli military says it does not target journalists, but facts and evidence show that this has happened repeatedly.
Obstruction of rescue efforts
Lebanese authorities accused the Israeli army of obstructing rescue operations while Khalil was still alive and trapped under debris. HRW, citing eyewitness accounts, reported that a drone dropped a stun grenade, forcing Lebanese Red Cross medics to withdraw from the scene. Khalil's body was recovered only later, after the shelling had subsided.
Israel's response
The Israeli army stated it had struck a vehicle that "had left a military installation used by Hezbollah" and subsequently struck the installation itself. It denied hindering rescue teams from accessing the area. In a response to Amnesty's report, Israel said the incident had been subject to a preliminary review and that lessons had been drawn, expressing regret for any harm caused to journalists. The army maintained that it does not target journalists.
Broader toll on journalists
According to the organizations' findings, 15 journalists have been killed by Israel since 2023. Khalil had been a long-time reporter for Al-Akhbar, and Faraj frequently worked alongside her as a freelance photographer. Amnesty has called for a formal war crime investigation into the al-Tiri attack.
