BEIRUT: A United Nations rapporteur said on Friday an Israeli attack on south Lebanon on Oct 13, 2023, that killed a Reuters journalist and wounded others, was a war crime.

Morris Tidball-Binz, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, also told a press conference in Beirut more than 1,100 women and children were killed in Lebanon during more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

The attack on the journalists two years ago 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”, Tidball-Binz said.

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.

A probe into the deadly attack pointed to a 120-mm tank shell only used by the Israeli army.

A UN investigation found there was “no exchange of fire” before the attack.

The Israeli military has denied it targets reporters.

Morris Tidball-Binz noted that three other journalists were killed in a strike in October last year as they slept “in a clearly marked journalist residence… which could not have gone unnoticed by the Israeli forces, which shelled the place with bombs”.

The Israeli military had said it targeted Hezbollah and that the strike was “under review”.

According to Lebanese authorities, more than 4,000 people have been killed since the exchange of fire began in Oct 2023, while the UN said last week it had verified the deaths of 103 civilians since the ceasefire.

Tidball-Binz said he was was gravely disturbed by the scale, number and gravity of Israeli attacks.He said they amounted to “thousands of people killed, including more than 1,100 women and children, and this continues today”.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2025