Shafaq News- Beirut
Israeli military attacks in southern Lebanon on April 22 that killed Al-Akhbar journalist Amal Khalil and severely wounded freelance journalist Zainab Faraj included “apparently deliberate” attacks on civilians and civilian objects that would make them war crimes, Human Rights Watch reported on Thursday.
HRW explained that the Israeli military knew or should have known the two journalists were civilians before striking them in Al-Tiri, citing witness accounts, call logs, at least 35 photographs and videos, eight images of a damaged ambulance, and a Lebanese Red Cross access request sent through UNIFIL.
According to the organization, the first strike hit a vehicle traveling ahead of the journalists. Khalil and Faraj then sought shelter nearby before a second strike hit their car and a third destroyed the building where they had taken refuge, while drones appeared to monitor the women as they remained trapped.
UNIFIL had forwarded the Red Cross request to the Israeli military “about 90 minutes” before the fatal strike.
A Tebnin Governmental Hospital report reviewed by HRW found that Khalil died from a head injury and severe bleeding. The organization concluded that she was probably still alive when the Red Cross team was forced to withdraw.
“The Israeli military says it does not target journalists, but the facts and evidence show that it has repeatedly done so,” HRW Lebanon researcher Ramzi Kaiss stated. Eight journalists were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon during March and April 2026: Amal Khalil of Al-Akhbar; Ghada Dayekh of Sawt Al-Farah Radio; Suzanne Khalil of Al-Manar TV and Al-Nour Radio; Mohammad Sherri, Hussain Hamood, and Ali Shoeib of Al-Manar TV; Fatima Ftouni of Al-Mayadeen; and freelance photojournalist Mohammed Ftouni.
The Lebanese Press Editors’ Syndicate puts the number of journalists and photographers killed in Israeli attacks since late 2023 at 27, accusing Israel of disregarding international laws and UN conventions protecting media workers during armed conflicts. Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was the first killed, in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on October 13, 2023.
HRW urged Lebanon to join the Rome Statute and accept International Criminal Court jurisdiction over events dating back to at least October 7, 2023. It also called on the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and other European states to suspend arms transfers and military assistance to Israel, impose targeted sanctions on officials implicated in continuing violations, and suspend the trade pillar of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
A record 129 journalists and media workers were killed worldwide in 2025, with Israel responsible for nearly two-thirds, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.