A funeral took place on Thursday for a Lebanese journalist who spent hours under rubble after rescue services were reportedly prevented from searching for her by Israeli attacks.
Amal Khalil, a correspondent for Al-Akhbar newspaper, and freelance photographer Zeinab Faraj, were working in the southern village of At-Tiri when the vehicle beside theirs was reportedly hit by an airstrike. The two journalists called for help and ran into a building, but it was hit by another airstrike.
Rescue workers retrieved Faraj, who was seriously injured, but were reportedly targeted by gunfire and a stun grenade before they could recover Khalil. It was hours more before they managed to retrieve her body.
An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson told The Irish Times: “The incident is still under investigation, therefore we are unable to provide further details at this time.”
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Colleagues said Khalil previously received threats through WhatsApp. In an interview recorded before her death, she said the messages – sent in 2024 from an unknown number – included personal information and she was told “we will separate your head from your shoulders if you don’t leave the south”. Her newspaper was also threatened, she said.
Khalil said she refused to follow the warnings because it would allow the Israeli military to control the “narrative”. She did not think they should be able to stop her from moving inside her own country.
Born in Baisariyah, southern Lebanon, in 1984, Khalil had been covering the area as a journalist for two decades. In an interview published by Beirut-based online magazine the Public Source in January, she said she supported resistance against Israel “whether communist or Islamist”, and was shaped by growing up during the Israeli occupation and reporting on the the 2006 war. The Al-Akhbar is considered pro-Hizbullah. Under international law, journalists are protected regardless of their affiliation, unless they are directly participating in hostilities.
Khalil said that through her work she became “a reference on Unifil, the Palestinian camps, the resistance, Hizbullah and the Lebanese army”. She added: “I have tried to be in solidarity with these people – the people of the land.” When Israelis tried to “grab land here and there, I was always on the lookout”.
In February, the Committee to Protect Journalists said the killing of journalists has reached an all-time high globally “primarily due to the actions of one government”. In 2025, it said Israel was responsible for two-thirds of all killings of journalists and media workers, driving the total number killed worldwide to a record 129 – the highest the organisation had recorded in its three decades.
“Israel’s targeting of media workers in the south while they carry out their professional duties is no longer isolated incidents, but has become an established approach that we condemn and reject, as do all international laws and conventions,” said Lebanese prime minister Nawaf Salam, following Khalil’s death. “Lebanon will spare no effort in pursuing these crimes before the competent international forums.”
On Thursday, Iman Riza, the UN deputy special co-ordinator for Lebanon, posted on X: “Journalists are civilians and must be protected.” He added: This must stop.”
About 150 people gathered on Thursday for a protest in Beirut’s central Martyrs’ Square. It was reminiscent of a similar protest in the same place, less than a month ago, after three Lebanese journalists – siblings Fatima and Mohammad Ftouni, and Ali Shuaib – were killed by targeted strikes on their vehicle.
