ALBAWABA - Human Rights Watch, Amnesty, and Legal Agenda point out that Israel deliberately targeted Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil and colleague Zeinab Faraj, knowing full well that they were civilian journalists; which amounts to a war crime.
The organizations called for the attacks to be investigated as war crimes as Human Rights Watch called on states to stop arming Israel and place the politicians responsible under sanctions.
To date, Israel has killed at least 15 journalists in Lebanon and 210 in Gaza since 2023, according to the UN human rights office, Amal Khalil was the latest and is doubtfully to be the last.
Amal Khalil was 42-years-old, a Journalist working for al-Akhbar, a Lebanese newspaper, while Zeinab Faraj is a 21-year-old freelance camerawoman and photojournalist. Both had been active in covering the war in Lebanon over the last three years.
Alongside the killing and injuring of journalists, Israeli tactics are to delay any emergency response to the site after its attack; barring any ambulances or rescue teams to help the targeted journalists; as was the case with Amal Khalil and Zeinab Faraj.
Alongside the killing and injuring of journalists, and the delaying of emergency responses and ambulances, Israeli tactics are also to target those ambulances with gunfire and drones when they arrive on the scene, as they had done with Amal Khalil and Zeinab Faraj.
All that lead to the death of Amal Khalil, who according to hospital reports, was still alive for hours after Israel targeted the car she and fellow journalist Zeinab were in, injuring them, and then targeting the building they crawled to for cover, burying them under the rubble where they remained alive for hours waiting for someone to rescue them – there in that long wait as Israeli checkpoints held the ambulance meant to rescue her, Amal Khalil passed away.
“The evidence is clear that the Israeli military knew, or should have, that Faraj and Khalil were civilians, but attacked them anyway, and then prevented paramedics from rescuing them for hours,” said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch.
Timeline of the Events
A photograph shows Amal Khalil, a veteran correspondent for the daily newspaper Al-Akhbar, in the southern Lebanese border village of Jebbayn in 2024. (AFP)
On the 22nd of April 2026, the pair of jounralists drove into al-Tiri village in southern Lebanon, driving behind a car carrying Ali Nabil Bazzi, a municipal official of the city of Bint Jbeil, as well as Mohammed Hourani, a friend of the mayor.
The Lebanese civil servants were dubbed ‘Hezbollah’ by Israel which promptly struck the car killing both men, at 2:25pm. Amal Khalil stopped and called emergency services, in the form of the Lebanese Civil Defense, after the attack.
The Civil Defense emergency response was stopped by an Israeli checkpoint at the edge of the village, awaiting Israeli military authorization in order to gain access to the village safely without being targeted; but the authorization was not granted as Israel was not yet done shedding blood.
Both journalists left their car and sought shelter as they waited for the Civil Defense to arrive; all the while Israeli quadcopters observed them in their ‘press’ helmets and body armor close overhead, Zeinab said.
“The drones came extremely close through the roof, less than a meter from my face and Amal’s,” she said.
At 3:31pm a member of the Civil Defense called Amal and told her to get into her car and drive out of the village as he was still awaiting Israeli army authorization – nine minutes after this phone call at 3:40pm, Israel struck Amal’s car as she and Zeinab were driving away.
“Glass and debris flew towards us. My ear felt like it burst. She [Amal Khalil] was bleeding heavily from the nose and head and had shrapnel wounds in her arm and thigh; she couldn’t move her leg,” Zeinab said.
Barely making it out alive, they limped and crawled their way into a nearby building for shelter, continuing to call people and ask for assistance from anyone who can reach them; but no one could as Israel has still not given the authorization.
At 4:25pm, Israel hit the two injured women again, targeting the building they were sheltering in. The strike had reduced the building to rubble with the two journalists buried alive, trapped beneath the concrete but still alive.
By that time, the UN peacekeeping force in the area had provided the Civil Defense response with a safe route to follow into the village, but Israel, having still not sated its bloodlust, had yet to give its approval for entry.
At 5pm, permission was granted to the Lebanese Red Cross to enter the village to rescue both women, instead. They managed to get Zeinab out of the rubble, she had a fractured skull and severe injuries to her right leg and eye along with a crushed hand.
As the rescuers went for Amal, they were attacked by the Israeli quadcopters which had dropped a stun grenade on them, and as the sound of gunfire started ringing out toward them, the rescuers had to withdraw with only Zeinab, being forced to leave Amal under the rubble, still alive.
At 8:15pm, three hours later, the Israeli military finally allowed the Civil Defense to enter the village; they entered, but only to recover Amal Khalil’s body; she had passed away not more than two hours earlier under the rubble, the rescue team recovered her body at 11pm.
At the nearby Tebnine hospital, an examination of her body showed that she probably died at 7pm, having spent the last two-and-a-half hours of her life buried in darkness, waiting to be rescued.
When confronted with the death of Amal, Israel said it “regrets any harm caused to journalists”.
