BEIRUT (AP) — Global and Lebanese rights groups on Thursday accused Israel of intentionally targeting and killing Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil earlier this year and obstructing medical workers from reaching her as she lay critically wounded.Khalil, a longtime correspondent for Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar in southern Lebanon, was killed in an Israeli strike in April in the village of al-Tiri, about 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the border with Israel, while covering the war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group. She was one of 11 journalists killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon since 2023.Khalil’s colleague, freelance photographer and video journalist Zeinab Faraj, was wounded in the strikes.International rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, alongside Lebanese watchdog group Legal Agenda and the Union of Journalists in Lebanon, told reporters in a joint press conference in Beirut on Thursday that they reached this conclusion after corroborating information from photos, videos, satellite imagery, testimonies from eyewitnesses and officials, and conversations over WhatsApp.
They also said Israel was aware of Khalil and Faraj’s presence and that Israeli drones were flying low over the two before they took refuge in a building and that the Israeli military should have been aware that they were women and journalists.The rights groups said Israel received multiple calls from Lebanese authorities and the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL, to allow paramedics to access the site throughout the day.
