Lebanon's prime minister has accused Israel of war crimes after an airstrike killed a journalist and wounded another in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military denied targeting journalists but acknowledged striking vehicles that it said posed a threat.
The strike on Wednesday killed Amal Khalil, a reporter for the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, and injured freelance photographer Zeinab Faraj. Officials said the two were deliberately targeted after seeking shelter in a home following an initial strike that hit a nearby vehicle, killing two men.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam stated, "Targeting journalists, obstructing access to them by relief teams, and even targeting their locations again after these teams arrive constitutes described war crimes." He accused Israel of repeatedly targeting media workers in southern Lebanon as "an established approach."
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) denied targeting journalists and said in a statement that it "does not target journalists and acts to mitigate harm to them while maintaining the safety and security of its troops." The IDF claimed two vehicles had "departed from a military structure used by Hezbollah" and that one approached Israeli troops as an "immediate threat" after crossing a "forward defence line," violating a ceasefire.
The Lebanese health ministry countered that the IDF "pursued" Khalil and Faraj, striking the house where they sought refuge. When a Lebanese Red Cross ambulance arrived, Israeli forces directed a stun grenade and gunfire toward it, preventing it from reaching the wounded, the ministry said. "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 stated.
Clayton Weimer, executive director of Reporters Without Borders, said the IDF "received messages from the organisation, as well as journalists, asking that it allow ambulances to get to Khalil. The Red Cross signalled they were unable to get through because of ongoing Israeli bombardment. So that is callous disregard, on top of what appears to be a deliberate and targeted killing of a journalist."
Faraj was eventually evacuated along with two of the dead. Khalil's body was later recovered by emergency teams, according to Lebanon's civil defence agency. On Thursday, journalists gathered at Martyrs Square in Beirut to remember her in silence.
The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it was "outraged" by Khalil's death. "The repeated strikes on the same location, the targeting of an area where journalists were sheltering, and the obstruction of medical and humanitarian access constitute a grave breach of international humanitarian law," said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah.
Khalil had previously reported receiving an "Israeli death threat" in 2024 urging her to leave southern Lebanon, raising concerns of deliberate targeting. The latest incident adds to a string of journalist deaths in Lebanon, including three killed in a targeted Israeli strike last month.