Lebanese leaders on Thursday accused Israel of committing a war crime after journalist Amal Khalil was killed in an air strike in southern Lebanon.
Khalil, 42, a reporter for Al Akhbar, was killed on Wednesday, while independent journalist Zeinab Faraj was wounded in the same strike in the south of the country, where Israeli forces control several areas.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Israel was deliberately targeting journalists to conceal what he described as its crimes against Lebanon, calling the incident a war crime.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said targeting journalists and obstructing rescue teams also constituted a war crime, adding that Lebanon would refer the case to international organisations.
According to Lebanon’s National News Agency, the two journalists had taken shelter in a house in the village of al-Tiri after an earlier Israeli air strike targeted a car in front of them. The two men in the vehicle, the mayor of the nearby town of Bint Jbeil, which Israel controls, and another man travelling with him, were killed.
A later Israeli strike then hit the house where the journalists had taken refuge. Rescue teams initially evacuated the wounded journalist before, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, Israeli fire targeted the ambulance.
Lebanese authorities then had to contact UN peacekeepers deployed in southern Lebanon, and several hours passed before rescue workers were able to regain access to the area and recover the second journalist from the rubble.
The health ministry accused Israel on Thursday of obstructing rescue operations and targeting an ambulance clearly marked with the Red Cross symbol.
For its part, the Israeli military said it had targeted two vehicles in the al-Tiri area carrying what it described as terrorists who had crossed its forward defensive line in southern Lebanon.
Israel says it has established a so-called yellow line, or forward defensive line, deep inside southern Lebanon, where its troops have entered, and has barred residents from returning.
A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect on April 17 after a war that erupted on March 2, when the Shiite group drew Lebanon into the wider Middle East conflict following the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Israeli-American strikes. Since then, more than 2,400 people have been killed in Lebanon.
The Israeli military denied obstructing rescue teams from reaching the area. It said reports indicated that two journalists had been wounded in the strikes and added that the incident was under review.
Khalil, southern Lebanon correspondent for Al Akhbar, a newspaper close to Hezbollah, had covered several wars in the region. She was known for her courage and widely respected by colleagues.
On March 28, three journalists were killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon, and UN experts have called for an international investigation.
Source: CNA