Red Cross attacked while rescuing journalist in 'clear-cut war crime': Lebanon

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam late Wednesday accused the Israeli military of war crimes after rescue workers recovered the body of journalist Amal Khalil from the ruins of a house in southern Lebanon that Israel bombed hours earlier.

“Targeting journalists, obstructing the access of relief teams to them—and indeed, re-targeting their locations after these teams have arrived—constitutes a clear-cut war crime,” Salam wrote on social media. “Israel’s targeting of media professionals in the south while they are performing their professional duties is no longer a matter of isolated incidents; rather, it has become a proven pattern—one that we condemn and reject, just as it is condemned and rejected by all international laws and norms.”

Khalil, who was reporting on Israel’s assault on southern Lebanon for the daily newspaper Al-Akhbar, took cover in a local house after an Israeli strike nearly hit her car. Israeli forces then attacked the house, trapping Khalil and fellow journalist Zeinab Faraj under rubble.

A Red Cross team granted access to the scene was able to evacuate Faraj, who was badly wounded, before coming under attack by Israeli forces. The Associated Press reported that Khalil “remained under the rubble for hours before the Lebanese army, civil defense, and the Lebanese Red Cross were able to get to the scene hours later.”

“Khalil’s body was retrieved shortly before midnight, at least six hours after the strike,” AP noted. The Israeli attacks were seen as flagrant violations of the 10-day ceasefire that took effect on April 16.

Paul Morcos, Lebanon’s minister of information, confirmed Khalil’s death and said she was “targeted by the Israeli occupation army while performing her professional duty” in southern Lebanon, which has been under intense Israeli assault since early March. Khalil is the fourth media worker killed by Israeli forces in Lebanon since March 2.

“Targeting journalists is a heinous crime and a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, which we will not remain silent about,” Morcos said in a statement. “We reiterate our call to the world and supporting international organizations to take action to stop it and prevent its recurrence.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an organization that works to protect press freedom worldwide, pointed to “reports that Khalil had received a direct death threat attributed to the [Israel Defense Forces] in September 2024” as potential evidence that Israel deliberately targeted her.

“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,” Sara Qudah, CPJ’s regional director in the Middle East and North Africa, said Wednesday. “CPJ holds Israeli forces responsible.”