Who Was Amal Khalil? Israel Kills Lebanese Journalist While Reporting In Southern Lebanon, Obstructs Rescue For Hours

Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil was killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon on Thursday, according to reports quoting local officials and her employer. Khalil, 43, a reporter for the newspaper Al-Akhbar, died after she was fired upon by Israeli army while reporting near the town of al-Tayri. A freelance photographer accompanying her, Zeinab Faraj, was wounded in the same incident. Israeli military earlier, the military had said it received reports that two journalists were injured as a result of its strikes.

How Israel Killed Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil And Others

According to Lebanon’s health ministry, a senior Lebanese military official, and press freedom advocates, Khalil and Faraj were covering developments in the area when an Israeli strike hit a vehicle in front of them.

Following the initial strike, the two journalists ran into a nearby house seeking shelter. However, that building was also struck, the same sources said.

Faraj was later rescued with a head wound, according to Elsy Moufarrej, head of the Union of Journalists in Lebanon.

Amal Khalil Was Trapped Under Rubble for Hours

 Amal Khalil, who had been reporting on the ongoing conflict in Lebanon between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group, was trapped under rubble for several hours.

She had been covering renewed clashes that resumed in early March. Earlier, she had taken shelter in the house in al-Tiri after an Israeli airstrike struck near the car she was travelling in with another colleague.

Rescue efforts were significantly delayed. Lebanese army units, civil defense teams, and the Lebanese Red Cross were only able to reach the scene hours later.

Khalil’s body was eventually recovered shortly before midnight, at least six hours after the strike.

How Israel Obstructed  Amal Khalil Rescue Operations

Rescuers initially struggled to access the site. Moufarrej and a senior military official said Israeli forces dropped a sound grenade when emergency teams attempted to reach the damaged building, obstructing their efforts.

The Lebanese health ministry said the Israeli military “prevented the completion of the humanitarian mission by firing a sound grenade and live ammunition at the ambulance”.

According to a senior military official, rescuers were eventually able to return approximately four hours after the initial strike. After another three hours of searching through the debris, Khalil’s body was recovered. Her death was later confirmed by Al-Akhbar on its website.

Lebanon Condemns Killing of Amal Khalil, Calls It “Blatant War Crime”

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam strongly condemned the killing of journalist Amal Khalil, describing both the attack and the obstruction of rescue efforts as a serious violation.

He said, “Israel’s targeting of media professionals in the South while they are performing their professional duties can no longer be viewed as a series of isolated incidents. Rather, it has become a proven pattern – one that we condemn and reject, just as it is condemned and rejected by all international laws and norms,” Salam said on X.

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