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Lebanon

Two more journalists killed by Israeli army fire

23/11/2023

With great sorrow and grief, the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) received the news of the killing of two journalists in southern Lebanon who were directly targeted by Israeli aircraft while they were reporting on the ongoing clashes.

On 21 November 2023, Al-Mayadeen satellite channel, which is based in Lebanon, announced that two members of its staff, journalist Farah Omar and photojournalist Rabih Al-Maamari, were killed as a result of an air strike on the city of Tayr Harfa in southern Lebanon. The same bombing also killed an 80-year-old local resident.

The attack comes after Israel’s security cabinet decided to shut down Al-Mayadeen TV in Israel on 12 November 2023, leading the TV channel to conclude that its journalists were deliberately targeted.

The number of journalists killed in southern Lebanon by Israeli forces is now three. GCHR documented that Reuters journalist Issam Abdullah was killed on 13 October 2023, when Israeli missiles targeted a group of journalists in the town of Alma Al-Shaab. During the attack, six other journalists were injured: Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh, also from the Reuters team, photojournalists Dylan Collins and Christina Assi, both working with Agence France-Presse (AFP), and journalist Carmen Joukhadar and photojournalist Elie Barkhya, both working with the Al-Jazeera satellite channel.

As with the killing of Omar and Al-Maamari, all of the above-mentioned journalists prominently displayed signs indicating that they were journalists, in addition to wearing helmets and press vests.

On the International Day to End Impunity, 02 November, GCHR called for an investigation into the killing of journalists during the war. At the time, the number of Palestinian journalists killed was at least 26, in addition to one Lebanese journalist. That number has now almost doubled to over 50, according to CPJ. Deliberately killing journalists is considered a war crime under international law, as they are afforded the same protection as civilians.

Once again, GCHR calls on the Israeli government to conduct an independent, comprehensive and rapid investigation to uncover those responsible for killing Lebanese journalists Issam Abdullah, Farah Omar and Rabih Al-Maamari, in addition to the dozens of Palestinians who have been killed,and refer them to trial. It must also provide all means of protection to journalists so that they are able to carry out their peaceful and professional journalistic work.