'Apparent war crime': Human Rights Watch accuses Israel of deliberate attack on journalists in Lebanon

In a new report, Human Rights Watch confirmed that an Israeli strike in Lebanon on October 25, 2024, which killed three journalists and injured four others, "was most likely a deliberate attack on civilians and an apparent war crime."

The organization stated that Israeli forces conducted the attack with an air-dropped bomb equipped with a Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kit, and urged the U.S. government to suspend weapons transfers to Israel, due to its "repeated" and "unlawful" attacks on civilians.

Richard Weir, senior crisis, conflict, and arms researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: “The Israeli military’s previous deadly attacks on journalists without any consequences give little hope for accountability in this or future violations against the media.”

The attack, according to the report, occurred in the early morning at the Hasbaya Village Club Resort in Hasbaya, South Lebanon, where a dozen journalists were staying for over three weeks. 

Human Rights Watch further stated that it "found no evidence of fighting, military forces, or military activity in the immediate area at the time of the attack."

"Information Human Rights Watch reviewed indicates that the Israeli military knew or should have known that journalists were staying in the area and in the targeted building," the report indicated. 

 

It added: "Lebanon should urgently accept the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction to give the court’s prosecutor a mandate to investigate serious international crimes committed on the country’s territory."