Israeli military forces have deliberately hunted down Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil in an air strike in southern Lebanon that also injured freelance photographer Zeinab Faraj.
Khalil, 43, who worked for Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, was travelling with Faraj when an initial Israeli drone strike hit the vehicle in front of them in the village of Tayri, killing two men.
According to Lebanon’s health ministry, Khalil and Faraj escaped the first strike and took shelter inside a nearby house. Officials said that Israeli forces then targeted the house where they had sought refuge, killing Khalil and injuring Faraj.
Khalil had earlier received WhatsApp messages from Israeli numbers with threats to behead her.
The ministry stated that Israeli forces had “pursued” the two journalists after the first raid, describing the second strike as a direct attack on civilians seeking safety.
Officials also accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of targeting a marked Lebanese Red Cross ambulance that arrived to rescue them.
The health ministry said that Israeli forces threw a stun grenade and opened fire towards the ambulance, preventing medics from reaching the wounded.
“This constitutes a blatant double violation: obstructing the rescue efforts of a citizen known for her civic media activism, and targeting an ambulance clearly marked with the Red Cross emblem,” the ministry said.
Lebanese Prime Minister (PM) Nawaf Salam called the incident a war crime.
“Targeting journalists, obstructing access to them by relief teams, and even targeting their locations again after these teams arrive constitutes described war crimes,” he said.
The IDF denied targeting journalists and said it had struck vehicles that had left a Hezbollah military structure and approached Israeli troops in a way it described as an immediate threat.
