BEIRUT — Lebanon’s prime minister has accused Israel of war crimes after an airstrike in the south of the country on Wednesday killed one journalist and seriously wounded another. Amal Khalil, who worked for Lebanon’s Al Akhbar newspaper, was killed while carrying out her journalistic work, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA). She is the fourth media worker slain by Israel in Lebanon since March. The other journalist was identified by Lebanese authorities as Zeinab Faraj, a freelance photojournalist.The strikes also killed several other people, NNA reported. An initial Israeli strike hit a car in at-Tiri, a village in south Lebanon, killing two people inside, NNA said on Wednesday. A later air strike on a building in the same village wounded a journalist, who was trapped under rubble. Amal Khalil was later found dead at the scene, her employer confirmed. Amal Khalil, 43, and Faraj, , were travelling together. The two men who died have not been named by officials. The two journalists had taken shelter during a series of strikes in at-Tiri when the building they were in was hit. Al Jazeera reporter Heidi Pett said two journalists from Al Akhbar had traveled to the site of the first attack in at-Tiri.“Amal Khalil and Zeinab Faraj had gone to the site of an earlier Israeli drone strike on a car, which reportedly killed two civilians in the town of at-Tiri,” the reporter said. “For several hours … the Red Cross and rescue workers [tried] to reach those two journalists. They were unable to do that for a long time due to continued Israeli attacks in the area.” Faraj was brought to a local hospital and was reportedly in “very serious condition and will be requiring surgery”, Pett reported. Lebanese authorities accused Israeli forces of trying to prevent emergency workers from rescuing them, with Red Cross workers taking Faraj to a hospital under “hostile gunfire,” according to NNA. “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.” The Israeli military acknowledged that two journalists had been injured as a result of the strikes but said it “does not target journalists and acts to mitigate harm to them while maintaining the safety and security of its troops.” It insisted it had not prevented teams from accessing the area and said that details surrounding the incident were under review. The Lebanese health ministry said the IDF “pursued” Khalil and Faraj, “who had taken refuge from the first raid in a nearby house, targeting the house where they had sought shelter”. When a Lebanese Red Cross ambulance arrived to treat the wounded, Israeli forces directed a stun grenade and gunfire toward it, preventing it from reaching them, the ministry said in a statement. “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 health ministry said. Clayton Weimer, the executive director of Reporters Without Borders, said the IDF had received messages from the organisation, as well as journalists, asking that it allow ambulances to get to Amal 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, the statement added. Khalil’s body was later recovered by emergency teams, according to Lebanon’s civil defence agency. The airstrikes occurred during a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, aimed at pausing fighting with Iran-backed Hezbollah, that has been in place since last Friday. A second round of direct talks between Israeli and Lebanese officials is scheduled for Thursday in Washington, according to an Israeli official and a State Department official. Israel’s attacks on Wednesday prompted an outcry from groups including the United Nations and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). “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. Earlier this month, UN experts called for an international independent investigation after the Israeli military killed three reporters in Lebanon, including one who worked for a Hezbollah-run broadcaster. Al-Akhbar said in an article on her death that Khalil “remained steadfast in her humanitarian and professional duty”. The Guardian’s William Christou, who covers the Middle East for the paper, described her in a post on X as a “professional, kind and dedicated journalist, and always a pleasure to run into in the field”. In 2024, Amal Khalil had been the target of an “Israeli death threat” that warned her to leave southern Lebanon, local media reported.— Agencies
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