LONDON: Three human rights groups have labeled an Israeli attack that killed a Lebanese journalist and injured another a war crime.
Amal Khalil, 42, died while traveling in southern Lebanon to verify Israeli troop movements on April 22. Her colleague Zeinab Faraj, 21, was wounded in the attack.
Israeli forces reportedly prevented ambulances from reaching the scene for several hours and even attacked members of the Lebanese Red Cross when they tried to reach them.
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Legal Agenda all found after separate investigations that Israel had deliberately attacked the journalists, which is a war crime.
Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at HRW, said: “The evidence is clear that the Israeli military knew, or should have, that Faraj and Khalil were civilians, but attacked them anyway, and then prevented paramedics from rescuing them for hours.”
