Israel strikes on journalists in Lebanon must be investigated as war crime: Amnesty

Amnesty International, on Thursday, called for Israeli attacks on journalists in southern Lebanon to be investigated as a possible “war crime”, Anadolu Agency reports.

The 13 October Israeli strikes on journalists that left one journalist killed and six others injured “were likely a direct attack on civilians that must be investigated as a war crime,” said a statement by the rights group.

The watchdog said it had verified videos and photos and checked the scene of the incident, adding that “the group was visibly identifiable as journalists” and “the Israeli military knew, or should have known, that they were civilians yet attacked them anyway in two separate strikes 37 seconds apart.”

“There must be an independent and impartial investigation into this deadly attack,” the rights group said.

The Israeli army has yet to comment on Amnesty’s statement.

Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry said, on 14 October, that it had filed a complaint with the UN Security Council over Israel’s “deliberate killing” of Reuters journalist, Issam Abdullah, in southern Lebanon.

Tension has flared along the border between Lebanon and Israel amid intermittent exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah since Israel launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group, Hamas, on 7 October.

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