Lebanese leaders allege war crime after journalist killed; Israel reviewing strike
Lebanon’s top leadership on Thursday accused Israel of committing a war crime after an airstrike in the country’s south killed Amal Khalil, a 42-year-old journalist for the daily Al-Akhbar. The Israeli army said it was reviewing the incident. Rescuers and Khalil’s employer confirmed her death on Wednesday.
Lebanon’s civil defence agency said she was killed in a strike on a house in the village of Al-Tiri.
In a statement, President Joseph Aoun denounced “war crimes” and said Israel “deliberately targets journalists in order to conceal the truth about its crimes against Lebanon.” Prime Minister Nawaf Salam wrote on X that “targeting journalists and obstructing access for rescue teams constitutes a war crime,” adding that his government would take the case to international bodies.
Lebanon’s National News Agency said Khalil and another journalist, Zeinab Faraj, had taken refuge in a house in Al-Tiri after an Israeli airstrike targeted a car in front of them, killing the two occupants — the mayor of the nearby Israeli-occupied town of Bint Jbeil and a man with him.
The agency said a subsequent strike hit the house where the journalists had sheltered. The health ministry said Faraj was wounded and taken to hospital, while Khalil was trapped under the rubble.
A Lebanese Red Cross official told AFP that rescuers managed to evacuate Faraj but were forced to withdraw “because of a warning strike.” Authorities contacted UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, and several hours passed before rescue teams could regain access to recover Khalil’s body.
On Thursday, the health ministry accused Israel of “obstructing rescue operations” and “targeting an ambulance clearly bearing the Red Cross symbol.” The Israeli military said on Wednesday it had identified two vehicles in southern Lebanon that had departed from “a military structure used by Hezbollah.” The air force then struck a vehicle carrying “terrorists,” it said, who had crossed what it calls the “forward defence line” in southern Lebanon and approached its troops.
Israel says it has established a “yellow line” deep into southern Lebanon where its forces have been posted, preventing residents from returning. The army denied preventing rescue teams from accessing the area.
An army spokesperson told AFP on Thursday that “the incident is still under review.” The killing occurred amid a 10-day ceasefire that has been in effect in Lebanon since Friday, pausing the war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah. That conflict has left more than 2,400 people dead in Lebanon, according to the report.
Rights groups condemned repeated killings of media workers.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said “targeting civilians and obstructing aid are violations of international humanitarian law,” adding that UN chief Antonio Guterres “reiterates that journalists must be able to perform their essential duties without fears of interference, harassment or worse.” Jonathan Dagher of Reporters Without Borders said Wednesday’s sequence of strikes “would indicate targeting and obstruction of aid constituting war crimes,” while Human Rights Watch’s Ramzi Kaiss said Khalil’s killing should be “credibly investigated,” noting that intentionally targeting civilians is a war crime.
Dozens of journalists attended Khalil’s funeral in her hometown of Baysariyeh on Thursday. Her coffin was draped in the Lebanese flag and covered in flowers, with her helmet and press vest placed on top. The government’s plan to bring the case to international bodies and the Israeli army’s review set the stage for further scrutiny.
On March 28, three journalists were killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon, prompting UN experts to call for an international investigation.