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.”
Khalil and Faraj had been in the village of Al-Tiri to confirm the withdrawal of Israeli troops for Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar.
They were traveling in a convoy with Ali Nabil Bazzi, a municipal official of the city of Bint Jbeil, and Mohammed Hourani, a friend of the local mayor.
When the convoy was attacked at 2:25 p.m., Bazzi and Hourani were killed. Khalil called the Lebanese Civil Defense to request help before she and Faraj sought shelter in a nearby building.
Faraj said the pair were stalked by Israeli quadcopter drones as they took cover. “The drones came extremely close through the roof, less than a meter from my face and Amal’s,” she said.
The Civil Defense informed the duo at 3:31 p.m. to leave the village as they could not be reached. They got back into their car, but it was hit by Israeli forces about nine minutes later.
“Glass and debris flew towards us. My ear felt like it burst. She (Khalil) was bleeding heavily from the nose and head and had shrapnel wounds in her arm and thigh; she couldn’t move her leg,” Faraj said.
They fled the car and reached a second building nearby, where they called Lebanese authorities asking for help.
They were told they could not be reached because, despite Civil Defense personnel having driven to the entrance of Al-Tiri to assist, the Israeli military had refused them entry.
At 4:25 p.m., the Israeli military struck the building the two journalists were sheltering in, burying them under the rubble.
In southern Lebanon, military and humanitarian services are meant to coordinate via a channel called the “mechanism” in order to manage such rescue attempts.
On this occasion, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon gave rescuers the go-ahead at 5 p.m. but Israel did not.
Following this limited approval, the Lebanese Red Cross entered the village and managed to extract Faraj, but Khalil could not be located.
The workers then came under attack from Israeli forces, with a stun grenade dropped and witnesses hearing gunfire, forcing them to leave Al-Tiri. HRW reported that bullet holes were found pockmarking the ambulances.
The Israeli military finally gave approval at 8:15 p.m. and Khalil’s body was found by rescuers at 11 p.m.
A postmortem examination suggested that Khalil had probably been alive as late as 7 p.m., meaning she could have been saved had rescuers been able to extract her when they entered the village at 5 p.m.
All three human rights organizations said Khalil’s killing fits a pattern of behavior by the Israeli military in targeting civilians.
“The impunity enjoyed by Israeli forces for the killing of journalists and other civilians in Lebanon over the past three years has enabled the Israeli military to continue with its unlawful airstrikes, including direct attacks on civilians,” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa director.
“It is well past time that the international community impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel.”
