“So long as impunity prevails, crimes will continue to be committed. Journalist Amal Khalil, wounded and trapped in a building targeted by Israeli strikes, lay dying for hours with rescue teams unable to reach her due to ongoing strikes by the Israeli army. These strikes continued despite appeals to the Israeli authorities to cease strikes in order to save her. We extend our condolences to the journalist’s family and wish a swift recovery to her colleague Zeinab Faraj, who was also injured in the strikes and is currently hospitalised. The Israeli army has very likely committed two more war crimes on 22 April, by targeting journalists who were identified as such, obstructing rescue operations and continuing strikes that killed one journalist and injured another. Responsibility for these crimes also lies with Israel’s allies, who continue to allow the Netanyahu government to commit them with impunity. We call on the international community to take firm measures to ensure that the Israeli government brings its massacre of journalists in Lebanon and Palestine to an end. We also call on the Lebanese government to investigate this crime, which took place on Lebanese territory, and will continue to work to ensure that justice is served for Amal Khalil and every single other journalist killed in Lebanon and the wider region.”

Journalist Amal Khalil was in the town of al-Tayri, on assignment with the daily Al Akhbar when a vehicle near the car she was travelling in with her colleague Zeinab Faraj was struck by an initial Israeli strike, according to first-hand accounts gathered by RSF. Nearly two hours later, the two journalists were targeted by a strike on a nearby three-storey building where they had taken refuge. While Lebanese rescue workers managed to evacuate Zeinab Faraj, additional Israeli strikes reportedly prevented them from reaching Amal Khalil, according to witnesses at the scene. From 17:00 Paris time, RSF and other NGOs publicly alerted the Israeli authorities and their allies to the situation of the two journalists trapped in the building. When urgently contacted by RSF to halt the airstrikes and allow rescue crews to reach the journalist, an Israeli army spokesperson replied at 17:30 simply saying: “I’ll look into it.” The journalist’s lifeless body was found by the Lebanese army and the Red Cross just six hours later.

RSF has reconstructed the timeline of the events:

• At around 14:30: a first Israeli strike targets a car near the vehicle carrying Amal Khalil and Zeinab Faraj. The two journalists survive the attack and manage to exit their vehicle.

• 14:52: Amal Khalil is contacted by Al Jazeera’s correspondent in southern Lebanon, Carmen Joukhadar. The call lasts nine seconds. “I could clearly hear that she was running and out of breath while speaking to me, but she told me she was fine,” he told RSF.

• Between 15:00 and 16:00: rescuers await authorisation from the diplomatic committee — known as the “mechanism” — which, among other roles, serves as guarantor and mediator for the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, in order to access the site. The committee, established in November 2024 under the auspices of France and the United States, also includes the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

• Around 16:00: a second strike targets the journalists’ car. Hiding nearby, Amal Khalil calls her colleagues to inform them of the attack, then takes refuge, with Zeinab Faraj, in a three-storey house located nearby.

• 16:22: last contact with Amal Khalil. According to her sister, who was on the phone with her at the time, Amal Khalil was unharmed. After this call, the journalist’s phone went dead.

• 16:27: a third Israeli strike targets the house. According to RSF, the strike was carried out by a military aircraft, not a drone. Smoke was captured in a photograph taken by Carmen Joukhadar from the neighbouring village of Khiam.

• Around 16:40: Lebanese army and nearby rescue teams are unable to reach the location of the two journalists due to ongoing strikes.

• Around 18:00: the Red Cross finally manages to evacuate Zeinab Faraj, who was suffering from fractures. According to the Lebanese TV channel LBCI, a flash grenade fired by Israeli forces forced the ambulance to retreat without being able to save Amal Khalil. Zeinab Faraj was taken to the local hospital in the nearby village of Tibnin.

• Around 19:20: the Lebanese army decides to accompany the Red Cross despite lacking authorisation from the “mechanism” given the urgency of the situation.

• Around 20:20: the Red Cross returns to the scene, accompanied by the Lebanese army and bulldozers begin rescue operations.

• 23:10: the army and the Red Cross publicly announce that they have found Amal Khalil’s lifeless body on the ground floor of the building. The exact time of her death is yet to be determined.

Meanwhile, at 20:00, the Israeli army’s official account confirmed on X that the journalists had been deliberately targeted, describing them as “intruders.” “Once it was established that they were violating the ceasefire agreement, the air force attacked one of the vehicles, then targeted a building where the intruders had taken refuge.” However, the journalists were identified as such, and their identities had been communicated at least by the time the mechanism raised the alert at around 14:30, before the strike on the building, according to RSF information. The Lebanese government has denounced war crimes targeting journalists.

Amal Khalil, the embodiment of courage

This 42-year-old war correspondent from southern Lebanon, had remained in the south since the start of the war with Israel in 2023. Amal Khalil had always stayed in the field, tirelessly covering events despite the dangers, which she knew well. Reporting on Israeli attacks for the renowned Lebanese daily Al Akhbar — founded in 2006 — whose editorial line supports the resistance movement against Israeli occupation in southern Lebanon, the seasoned journalist became the target of Israeli threats. In 2024, RSF called for her protection after she received a death threat from an Israeli number — whose owner has not been identified to date — due to her coverage of the ongoing war. “I contacted Amal Khalil in September 2024 after the death threats,” recalls RSF correspondent Elissar Kobeissi. “She insisted that she would not leave the south. Despite all the threats, she wanted to continue working.”