A Lebanese reporter died Wednesday when Israeli forces targeted a residence in southern Lebanon where she had sought refuge while covering the ongoing Israel-Hezbollah conflict, according to rescue officials who said her remains weren’t recovered from the debris until hours after the attack.
Amal Khalil, a correspondent for the Al-Akhbar daily newspaper, was fatally wounded in the southern community of al-Tiri, the publication reported.
Khalil had been documenting the Lebanon conflict between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants that reignited in early March alongside the broader U.S.-Israeli military action in Iran. She sought safety in the al-Tiri residence after an initial Israeli bombardment struck close to the vehicle she was using with a fellow reporter.
According to Lebanon’s health ministry, the initial attack claimed two lives. Israeli forces then launched a second strike against the al-Tiri house where Khalil and colleague Zeinab Faraj had taken refuge.
Rescue personnel initially managed to reach Faraj, who sustained severe injuries, and recover the two victims from the first bombing. However, Israeli troops opened fire on the rescue workers, forcing them to abandon efforts to reach Khalil, ministry officials stated.
Khalil remained trapped beneath the wreckage for several hours before Lebanese military units, civil defense teams and the Lebanese Red Cross could access the location. Her remains were finally extracted just before midnight, at least six hours following the strike.
Israeli military officials claimed that people in the community had breached ceasefire agreements, putting their soldiers at risk. Israel rejected accusations that it deliberately targets media personnel or blocked rescue operations from entering the zone. Military leaders said they were investigating the incident.
“Killing of journalists is a crime and a flagrant violation of international and humanitarian law,” stated Lebanon’s Information Minister Paul Morcos.
Khalil’s death occurred as Israeli and Lebanese representatives prepare for a second round of direct negotiations in Washington aimed at extending the ceasefire that began last Friday.
A native of southern Lebanon, Khalil had reported from the region for al-Akhbar since 2006. Her recent coverage focused on Israeli destruction of Lebanese residences in communities now occupied by Israeli military forces within Lebanon.
Her death raises to nine the total number of media workers killed in Lebanon this year. Israeli attacks have resulted in at least 2,300 deaths and displaced over one million people since the current Israel-Hezbollah war began March 2.
Earlier Wednesday, Reporters Without Borders demanded international intervention to pressure Israeli forces to permit Khalil’s rescue. The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed “outrage” over what appeared to be deliberate targeting of the two reporters and warned that blocking rescue efforts “may amount to a war crime.”
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun requested that the Lebanese Red Cross work with military forces and U.N. peacekeepers “to carry out the rescue operation” as rapidly as possible.
In late March, three journalists covering the conflict died in an Israeli attack on southern Lebanon. Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV reported that veteran correspondent Ali Shoeib was among the victims. Israeli military officials said they had deliberately targeted Shoeib, claiming he served as a Hezbollah intelligence agent, though they offered no proof.
The same strike also killed reporter Fatima Ftouni of Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV and her brother Mohammed Ftouni, who worked as a video journalist.
Several days before that incident, an Israeli strike on a central Beirut apartment killed Mohammed Sherri, who directed political programming at Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV, along with his spouse.
