Lebanese Journalist Amal Khalil Killed in Israeli Strike, Medics Blocked from Saving Her Under Rubble

Israeli forces killed the prominent Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil on Wednesday despite a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. Khalil and her colleague, photographer Zeinab Faraj, were reporting from southern Lebanon when an Israeli drone struck a car near them, killing two civilians. Khalil and Faraj sought shelter in a nearby building, but then Israel struck that building, as well. Emergency and medical workers rescued Faraj but came under fire before they could rescue Khalil, and were prevented by the Israeli military from returning for over six hours. Khalil died by the time her body was recovered from under the rubble. The deliberate obstruction is “a war crime and requires an international investigation,” says Sara Qudah, Middle East and North Africa regional director at the Committee to Protect Journalists. Amal Khalil is the ninth journalist killed by Israel in Lebanon this year. She told local media in 2024 that she had received a death threat from Israel’s Mossad spy agency warning her to leave southern Lebanon or risk decapitation. “This is what Israel is trying to do. It’s trying to prevent the truth from being reached by a much, much wider audience to see the war crimes that are being carried out [in Lebanon] on a daily basis,” says Steve Sweeney, Lebanon bureau chief for the Russian news channel RT, who survived an Israeli strike last month.