CPJ earlier warned that Israel’s obstruction of rescue efforts may amount to a war crime and said it was alarmed by reports that Khalil had received a direct death threat attributed to the IDF in September 2024, raising serious concerns of deliberate targeting.
Khalil, a reporter for the newspaper Al-Akhbar, and Faraj, a freelance photojournalist, were both on assignment, reporting on recent attacks on the southern village of Bint Jbeil. En route, they became trapped under rubble after a direct strike hit the building they were sheltering in, according to Al-Jadeed TV, just after a strike on a nearby civilian vehicle on the main road in Al Tayri. The destruction and direct fire at ambulances prevented rescue operations from reaching the site.
Khalil was last heard from at approximately 4:10 p.m., according to news reports and colleagues CPJ spoke to, when she called her family and the Lebanese military.
The Red Cross was granted limited access to the site, which remained under active fire. It was able to evacuate Faraj, who reportedly sustained critical head injuries, and two other civilian who were killed, before being forced to withdraw due to continued shelling and the direct firing on rescue crews and vehicles, according to news reports.