CPJ calls for accountability as reports find Israel likely targeted journalists in Lebanon

A TV crew’s car burns after it was hit by Israeli shelling in Lebanon on October 13, killing Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah. (AP/Hassan Ammar)

CPJ welcomes Thursday’s reports by Amnesty InternationalHuman Rights WatchReuters, and Agence France-Presse into the deadly October 13 strike on journalists in southern Lebanon, which killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and injured six others.

We reiterate our call for an immediate, independent, and transparent investigation that holds the perpetrators to account.

Using witness testimony, satellite imagery, and analysis of videos, audio, and munition remnants, the human rights groups and wire services concluded that the attack was likely a deliberate assault by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on civilians, which constitutes a war crime.

Two strikes fired by an Israeli tank crew in quick succession hit the group of reporters from AFP, Al Jazeera, and Reuters, and their car, as they were filming cross-border shelling just over a kilometer from the Israeli border near the Lebanese village of Alma al-Chaab, the investigations found. All seven journalists were wearing helmets and flak jackets marked “press” and were close to a car with “TV” written across its hood.

These findings echo some of those in CPJ’s May 2023 report, which showed a deadly pattern of lethal force by the IDF that killed 20 journalists over the last 22 years. No one has ever been charged or held to account.

CPJ documented that at least 13 of the 20 journalists who died between 2001 and September 2023 were clearly identified as members of the media or were inside vehicles with press insignia at the time that they were killed. The vast majority—18—were Palestinian and two were European correspondents. All of the deaths took place in the occupied West Bank or in Gaza.

Under international law, journalists are civilians who must be respected and protected by all warring parties and deliberately targeting journalists or media infrastructure constitutes a war crime.

At least 63 journalists killed in Israel-Gaza war

Smoke rises in Gaza following an Israeli strike on December 1 after an Israel-Hamas truce expired. (Photo: Reuters/Alexander Ermochenko)

The first month of the Israel-Gaza war was the deadliest month for journalists since CPJ began documenting journalist fatalities in 1992.

As of December 7, CPJ’s investigations showed at least 63 journalists and media workers were among more than 17,000 killed since the war began on October 7—with more than 16,000 deaths in the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank and about 1,200 in Israel. This deadly toll is coupled with harassment, detentions, and other reporting obstructions in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and beyond.

Israeli forces have told news agencies that they cannot guarantee safety of journalists working in Gaza, where the war resumed on Friday.

CPJ is investigating all reports of journalists and media workers killed, injured, detained or missing in the war. The results of which are published here. It is unclear whether all journalists were covering the conflict at the time of their deaths, but CPJ has included them in our count as we investigate their circumstances.

More coverage and photos of the war’s unprecedented toll on journalists

Interactive map: Where journalists have died

FAQ: How CPJ documents journalists’ deaths

See CPJ’s safety advice for journalists covering conflict and civil unrest


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Journalists Attacked

Samuel Wazizi

KILLED



Cameroonian news anchor and camera operator Samuel Wazizi died in government custody on August 17, 2019.

Police officers arrested him on August 2, saying they were looking for Wazizi to “get a certain information for their boss, the commissioner.”

On August 7, he was transferred to military custody and disappeared. In June 2020, military authorities disclosed that Wazizi had died of “severe sepsis” 10 days after that transfer.

CPJ has repeatedly called for authorities to allow an independent probe into Wazizi’s death.

In at least 8 out of 10 cases, the murderers of journalists go free. CPJ is waging a global campaign against impunity.

The Committee to Protect Journalists promotes press freedom worldwide.

We defend the right of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal.

journalists killed in 2024 (motive confirmed)
imprisoned in 2023
missing globally