Beirut, Dec.7, 2023 – Two Israeli strikes in Lebanon on October 13, 2023, that killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and injured six other journalists was an apparently deliberate attack on civilians and thus a war crime, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.
Witness accounts and video and photo evidence that Human Rights Watch verified indicate that the journalists were well removed from ongoing hostilities, clearly identifiable as members of the media, and had been stationary for at least 75 minutes before they were hit by two consecutive strikes.
Human Rights Watch found no evidence of a military target near the journalists’ location.
“This is not the first time that Israeli forces have apparently deliberately attacked journalists, with deadly and devastating results,” said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch.
“Those responsible need to be held to account, and it needs to be made clear that journalists and other civilians are not lawful targets.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed seven witnesses, including three of the injured journalists, and analyzed 49 videos and dozens of photos, in addition to satellite images.
Human Rights Watch also interviewed a United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) representative and consulted military, video, and audio experts.
On October 17 and 26, Human Rights Watch sent letters with findings and questions to the Lebanese and Israeli armed forces, respectively, but did not receive a response from either.
Evidence reviewed by Human Rights Watch indicates that the Israeli military knew or should have known that the group of people they were firing on were civilians.
On October 14, an Israeli military spokesperson, Richard Hecht, said that they were “very sorry for the journalist’s death.”
On October 17, Hecht told Reuters that the military was “looking at the footage and [will] come out with an answer when we’re ready.” But that has not happened.
Video evidence, expert audio analysis, and witness accounts suggest that the group was visible to the cameras of a nearby unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that was most likely Israeli, within line of sight of five Israeli surveillance towers, and most likely targeted by at least one munition fired from the main gun of a tank from an Israeli military position approximately 1.5 kilometers southeast.
Human Rights Watch was unable to identify the second munition that struck the journalists.
The attacks occurred at around 6:00 p.m. on October 13. The group of journalists had congregated, as early as 4:45 p.m., in a clearing on a hilltop in Alma al-Shaab, to film ongoing fighting at Lebanon’s southern border with Israel, people interviewed said.
About an hour before the attacks, a suspected infiltration attempt by armed militants from Lebanon into the Israeli town of Hanita, approximately 2.2 kilometers away, was followed by cross-border fire between Israeli forces and armed groups.
Israeli military officials told Reuters that Hezbollah fired at several border locations, including with “an anti-tank missile that hit the Israel security fence.”
In a statement that day, UNIFIL said that “a heavy exchange of fire erupted between Lebanon and Israel in the vicinity of Alma Shaab, Ayta Ash Shab, Al Dihaira, El Adeysse and Houla” at approximately 5:20 p.m. Forty minutes later, two munitions struck the journalists’ location.
Five cameras belonging to journalists indirectly captured the attack and its aftermath, shedding light on how the attack was carried out and from where.
The journalists interviewed said that the first munition struck Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and a short concrete wall, killing him instantly and badly injuring an Agence France-Presse (AFP) photojournalist, Christina Assi.
Thirty-seven seconds later, another attack destroyed the car belonging to Al Jazeera, igniting it in flames, and injuring six journalists, including Carmen Joukhadar and Elie Brakhya from Al Jazeera, Dylan Collins and Christina Assi from AFP, and Thaer al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh from Reuters.
Collins, Joukhadar, and Brakhya told Human Rights Watch that all seven journalists were wearing helmets and blue ballistic vests with labels that said “PRESS,” and were identifiable as journalists.
This was confirmed through videos Human Rights Watch analyzed. One video, posted to Assi’s Instagram account at least an hour before the attack, shows five journalists, including Abdallah, wearing the blue ballistic vests and helmets with clearly visible labels.
Other footage also shows the group wearing the marked vests and helmets in the same area, near a car marked with “TV” in large letters on its hood.
The journalists were stationary at this exposed site, within a line of sight to an Israeli military location in north Israel, 2.2 kilometers away, for at least 1 hour and 15 minutes, according to their statements and video evidence.
Journalists from Al Jazeera had conducted two live TV reports, the first at 4:55 p.m. and the second at 5:24 p.m., from the same location.
Live transmissions by Reuters and AFP were also broadcast on air by several television stations during that period.
Human Rights Watch confirmed the presence of a helicopter south of the journalists’ position, one hour, 30 minutes, and 5 minutes before the strike, in videos it reviewed.
Witness statements and statements made by reporters who were broadcasting live at the time indicated that a helicopter was flying overhead for various periods before the first strike, including in the last 15 minutes and one minute before the attack.
Witness statements and audio analysis of videos by two teams of experts consulted by Human Rights Watch, including the nongovernmental group Earshot and a US-based expert, identified the presence of a propeller-driven unmanned aerial vehicle before the first strike.
According to two experts’ audio analysis, the vehicle circled near the journalists’ position 11 times in the 25 minutes before the strikes.
A third analysis by a UK group of audio experts found that the sound was consistent with that of an electric motor circling the journalists’ position before the first strike, and could be evidence of a propellor-driven UAV.
All evidence reviewed indicated that the journalists were not near areas with ongoing hostilities. In 49 videos Human Rights Watch analyzed and geolocated, researchers found that the journalists were between one and two kilometers from areas where hostilities were reported.
All witnesses said that airstrikes and armed clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah and Palestinian armed groups were concentrated in the area near the border fence, between one and two kilometers from the journalists.
None of the evidence indicated the presence of any military objective near the journalists. The attack on the journalists’ position directly targeted them, with two consecutive strikes within 37 seconds.
A witness in Alma al-Shaab said that he saw two red streaks striking the journalists’ location from a hilltop area near Jordeikh in northern Israel, about 1.5 kilometers from the journalists’ position.
Satellite images of a clearing approximately 1.5 kilometers southeast of the journalists’ location, in Jordeikh, recorded on the mornings of October 12, 13, and 14, confirm the presence of military activity at this position.
A fundamental tenet of international humanitarian law, or the laws of war, is that of “civilian immunity.” It imposes a duty, at all times during the conflict, to target only combatants and other military objectives.
It is forbidden in any circumstance to carry out direct attacks against civilians. Journalists benefit from the general protection enjoyed by civilians and may not be targets of an attack unless they are taking direct part in hostilities.
Warring parties are obligated to take all feasible precautions to avoid harm to civilians. They must take all necessary action to verify that targets are military objectives.
A person who commits serious violations of the laws of war with criminal intent – that is, intentionally or recklessly – may be prosecuted for war crimes.
Individuals may also be held criminally liable for assisting in, facilitating, aiding, or abetting a war crime.
Israel’s key allies – the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany – should suspend military assistance and arms sales to Israel, given the real risk that they will be used to commit grave abuses.
US policy prohibits arms transfers to states “more likely than not” to use them in violations of international law.
The United States government should investigate the strike in light of injuries caused to one of its citizens.
“The evidence strongly suggests that Israeli forces knew or should have known that the group that they were attacking were journalists,” Kaiss said.
“This was an unlawful and apparently deliberate attack on a very visible group of journalists.”
