Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil was killed on Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike on the building she had taken cover in while reporting in southern Lebanon — a death made more chilling by the threats she had reportedly received nearly two years earlier.
According to Al Jazeera, Khalil had received threats from an Israeli WhatsApp number during the last war, in a warning her to stop reporting or leave Lebanon "if she wanted her head to remain on her shoulders." Al Jazeera's correspondent Heidi Pett reported the detail from the ground in Tyre, hours after Khalil's body was recovered from the rubble.
ALSO READ: Lebanese PM Accuses Israel Of War Crimes, Condemns Killing Of Journalist Amal Khalil
Who Was Khalil?
Khalil, 43, worked for the Beirut-based newspaper Al-Akhbar, according to Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA). She was a veteran journalist who had covered conflicts in the region since 2006. Her recent reporting focused on Israeli demolitions in villages where troops have established positions inside Lebanese territory, NNA said.
As per reports, she and photojournalist Zeinab Faraj had gone to the village of At-Tiri in the Bint Jbeil district to report on an earlier Israeli drone strike on a car that killed two civilians.
A first attack hit a vehicle near Khalil as she worked, killing two people and prompting her and Faraj to seek shelter in a nearby house, which was then also struck.
“Targeting journalists and obstructing the access of rescue teams to them, and then the renewed targeting of those teams after they'd arrived, constitute described war crimes,” Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam posted to X.
He said Israeli attacks on media workers were no longer “isolated incidents” but “an established method which we condemn.”
Rescue Blocked For Hours
When the Lebanese Red Cross arrived to evacuate the wounded, its team was prevented from completing the mission after an ambulance was fired at and a stun grenade was thrown, obstructing the rescue of Khalil, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) alleged and warned that Israel's obstruction of rescue efforts may amount to a war crime.
“CPJ holds Israeli forces responsible for the endangerment of Amal Khalil's life and the injuries Zeinab Faraj sustained after the targeted strike on their location,” CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah said on Wednesday.
According to the CPJ Israel was responsible for two-thirds of all journalist and media worker killings in 2025.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it "does not target journalists and acts to mitigate harm to them," and denied preventing rescue teams from accessing the area, adding that details surrounding the incident were under review.
NDTV Profit cannot independently verify either the Lebanese or Israeli accounts.
What's The Broader Situation?
She is the fourth media worker allegedly slain by Israel in Lebanon since March and brings the number of journalists killed in Lebanon this year to nine, according to media watchdogs, cited by Associated press. The broader conflict has left at least 2,300 people dead and displaced more than one million, said Lebanese officials.
The same strike also killed Fatima Ftouni and her brother Mohammed Ftouni, both working with Al-Mayadeen TV. The strikes occurred during a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. A second round of direct talks between Israeli and Lebanese officials was scheduled for Thursday in Washington.
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