Israel has been accused of war crimes after an airstrike in the south of Lebanon killed the journalist Amal Khalil, the latest media worker to die in the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel since the beginning of March.
The airstrikes took place during a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, which on Thursday was extended by three weeks following a second round of direct talks between Israeli and Lebanese officials in Washington.
Khalil worked for Lebanon’s Al Akhbar newspaper, which is aligned with Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy group Israel is waging war against. Israel responded to criticism of the strike by saying it does not target journalists.
Khalil had been reporting on hostilities that broke out after Israel responded to Hezbollah attacks launched from Lebanon on March 2 in support of Iran. She was with Zeinab Faraj, a freelance photojournalist who was seriously wounded in the strikes that also killed several others.
The pair had been reporting on recent attacks on the southern village of Bint Jbeil and sought shelter from an Israeli bombardment in a house hit in a second strike, the Lebanese health ministry said.
Newsweek has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.
Khalil was last heard from at approximately 4.10 p.m. Wednesday, when she called her family and the Lebanese military, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Lebanese authorities accused Israeli forces of trying to stop emergency workers from rescuing them, with Red Cross workers taking Faraj to a hospital under “hostile gunfire,” according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).
Earlier this month, two journalists were killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon—Ghada Dayekh, a presenter with radio station Sawt al-Farah, and Suzan Khalil, a reporter on Al-Manar TV, which is affiliated with Hezbollah.
In March three Lebanese journalists were killed in a targeted Israeli strike on the town of Jezzine, their employers said.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam posted on X: “targeting journalists and obstructing the access of rescue teams to them, and then the renewed targeting of those teams after they’d arrived, constitute described war crimes.”
The head of the Union of Journalists in Lebanon, Elsy Moufarrej, told Al Jadeed TV that Israeli forces had deliberately targeted Khalil, referring to a death threat Khalil had received in September 2024 attributed to the Israel Defense Forces.
CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah said it “holds Israeli forces responsible for the endangerment of Amal Khalil’s life and the injuries Zeinab Faraj sustained.”
The CPJ has said Israel was responsible for two-thirds of journalist and media worker deaths worldwide in 2025.
The Israeli military said it did not target journalists, CNN reported. In a statement it said its forces in southern Lebanon had seen two vehicles coming from a “military structure” used by Hezbollah, which approached in a threatening manner. The military attacked one of the vehicles and a building from which the individuals had fled.
The Israeli military said it had not stopped emergency teams and that details surrounding the incident were being investigated. Newsweek cannot independently verify either the Lebanese or Israeli accounts.
At least 2,475 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon since the latest war began, according to the Lebanese authorities.
Khalil’s Career
Born in 1984, in al-Baisariyah, in the Saida district of southern Lebanon, Khalil grew up during the civil war and Israel’s occupation of large parts of her home region, Middle East Eye reported. She moved to Beirut, where she became involved in communist activism and started her writing career.
Khalil joined newspaper Al-Akhbar in April 2006, just before its launch, and was mostly based in the city of Sour, also known as Tyre. During Israel’s 2023-2024 war on Lebanon, she documented evidence of Israeli targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure, Middle East Eye reported.
Ali Khalil, her brother paid tribute to his sister in a TV interview. He said she “was present in every home. Every home in Lebanon has lost her,” adding she “resembles the south in all its details—its sweet breeze, its valleys, its mountains, and its old houses.”
About the Author
Discover more from USA NEWS
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
