Four US senators said there had been no accountability for an Israeli attack in October 2023 that struck a group of journalists in Lebanon, killing a Reuters correspondent.
Peter Welch, from Vermont, the home state of one of the journalists injured in the attack, accused Israel of failing to conduct a serious investigation into the incident. He did not specify what details he had requested from the Israeli government, or what, if anything, he had been given as proof.
Reuters was unable to independently confirm what efforts Israel had made to investigate the attack, which it said publicly it would review. Israel has often investigated itself after incidents that caused a public outcry, such as an attack in March tat killed eight members of the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
On October 13, 2023, a tank in Israel fired two shells in quick succession as journalists were filming cross-border shelling. Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was killed and five others were injured, including AFP photographer Christina Assi. She later had her right leg amputated.
In a news conference on Thursday organised by two advocacy groups, Mr Welch, a Democrat, said he had been given no written evidence of an Israeli investigation into the attack. There was no proof Israeli officials had spoken to victims, witnesses or independent investigators, he added.
The Israeli military has said it does not target journalists but has not offered an explanation for why the tank unit opened fire.
In June, Mr Welch’s office was told by the Israeli embassy that the military conducted an investigation into the attack and concluded that none of the soldiers acted outside its rules of engagement.
Standing next to AFP journalist Dylan Collins, an American citizen injured in the attack, Mr Welch said Israeli authorities had "stonewalled" him over calls for an investigation, as well as giving him conflicting answers. He did not give further details.
Marc Lavine, AFP's regional director for North America, said the agency had been seeking full accountability for more than two years. "AFP calls on the Israeli authorities to reveal the results of any investigation and to hold those responsible to account,” he said.
Since 2023, Reuters has urged the Israeli military to investigate the attack that killed Abdallah. It has still to receive an explanation, the agency said.
Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen condemned Israel over the attack. "We have not seen accountability or justice in this case," he added. "It is part of a broader pattern of impunity, of attacks on Americans and on journalists by the government of Israel."
Becca Balint, a member of the US House of Representatives, and independent senator Bernie Sanders, both of whom are from Vermont, vowed to continue to seek justice for the journalists.
The attack happened as the group were reporting on cross-border attacks between the Israeli military and Hezbollah. The conflict began a day after Hamas-led attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war.
Israel has been accused of deliberately targeting Palestinian journalists covering the war in Gaza, after it refused to allow international media into the enclave. Israel is responsible for more than a third of journalist killings around the world this year, Reporters Without Borders said.
Twenty-nine Palestinian reporters have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, the group said in its annual report. The total number of journalists killed around the world has reached 67 this year, one more than last year. Israeli forces were responsible for 43 per cent of the total killings, making them “the worst enemy of journalists”, the group added.
A double strike on a hospital in southern Gaza on August 25 killed five journalists, including contributors to Reuters and AP. Israel called it a “tragic mishap”. But it previously admitted to deliberately killing a crew of five journalists.
