Lebanon says Israel targeted journalist killed in airstrike

Lebanon's prime minister, Nawaf Salam, on Thursday accused Israel of war crimes after Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil was killed in an Israeli airstrike while reporting in the south of the country. "Israel's targeting of media workers in the south while they carry out their professional duties is no longer isolated incidents, but has become an established approach that we condemn and reject," he said in a post on X. Khalil, a correspondent for Lebanon's daily Al-Akhbar newspaper, was covering developments in the southern village of al-Tiri on Wednesday with her colleague, freelance photographer Zeinab Faraj, when an Israeli strike hit the vehicle in front of them. They took cover in a nearby house, which was also then hit, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The ministry said rescue workers managed to get to Faraj, who was seriously injured, but they had to abandon their efforts after coming under fire by Israeli forces. That prompted Reporters Without Borders to call on the international community to pressure the Israeli army to allow Khalil to be rescued. Her body was recovered from the rubble hours later. Lebanese PM: Targeting journalists amounts to a war crime "Targeting journalists, obstructing access by relief teams to them, and even targeting their locations again after these teams have arrived, constitutes war crimes," Salam said. He expressed his condolences to Khalil's family and said Lebanon would "spare no effort in pursuing these crimes before the competent international forums." The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed its "outrage" at the apparent targeting of the two journalists and warned that the obstruction of rescue efforts "may amount to a war crime." Israel denied blocking rescue teams and said it does not target journalists. It also said Wednesday's incident was under review. The Israeli military said individuals in al-Tiri had violated the ceasefire and posed a threat to its troops.srael-Lebanon ceasefire talks to get underway A 10-day ceasefire aimed at halting the fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah has been in place since April 16. However, the two sides have continued to trade fire. Hezbollah is an Iran-backed Shiite political party and militant group in Lebanon. It is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, Germany and several Sunni Arab countries, while the European Union lists Hezbollah's armed wing as a terrorist group. Israeli and Lebanese officials were set to meet in Washington on Thursday for a second round of ceasefire talks. Khalil, who was from southern Lebanon, had been covering the conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group, which flared in March after the start of the US-Israel war with Iran. Her death brings the number of journalists killed in Lebanon this year to nine. Israel‑Hezbollah ceasefire holds despite sporadic clashesTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Edited by: Sean Sinico