UN rapporteur says 2023 Israeli attack on journalists in Lebanon was war crime

A United Nations rapporteur on Friday said an Israeli attack on south Lebanon on October 13, 2023, that killed a Reuters journalist and wounded others including two from AFP was a war crime.

Morris Tidball-Binz, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, told a press conference in Beirut that it was "a premeditated, targeted and double-tapped attack from the Israeli forces, a clear violation, in my opinion, of IHL (international humanitarian law), a war crime."

The attack killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and wounded six others including AFP's Dylan Collins and Christina Assi, who had to have her right leg amputated. The Israeli military has denied it targets reporters.