Lebanon accuses Israel of targeting journalist killed in air strike

Lebanon's prime minister has accused Israel of war crimes after Israeli air strikes killed one journalist and wounded another in southern Lebanon on Wednesday.

The strike killed Amal Khalil, who worked for a Lebanese newspaper, and injured freelance photographer Zeinab Faraj.

Officials in Lebanon say they were deliberately targeted as they sought shelter in a home after an initial air strike hit the vehicle in front of them, killing two men.

The officials also accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of intentionally targeting a marked ambulance as it tried to reach the journalists in the village of Tayri.

The IDF denied that it was preventing rescue teams from reaching the area and said it did not target journalists.

Journalists Khalil, 43, who worked for Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, and Faraj, a freelance photographer, were travelling together. The two men who died have not been named by officials.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said: "Targeting journalists, obstructing access to them by relief teams, and even targeting their locations again after these teams arrive constitutes described war crimes."

He accused Israel of repeatedly targeting media workers in southern Lebanon in what he described as "an established approach".