Timeline: The Israeli attacks that killed journalist Amal Khalil
Her colleague Zeinab Faraj has been hospitalized after being severely injured by the Israeli strike.
by Yara Sarkis · L'Orient TodayBEIRUT — On Wednesday afternoon, around 2:30 p.m., Al-Akhbar journalist Amal Khalil was in a car in Tiri, in the Bint Jbeil district, with photographer Zeinab Faraj, when an Israeli strike on a vehicle traveling alongside them on the Haddatha–Tiri–Bint Jbeil road killed its two passengers, despite the April 17 cease-fire.
The convoy was heading to Bint Jbeil, which Israeli forces have surrounded, and where clashes with Hezbollah fighters continue.
Shortly afterward, an Israeli strike hit the journalists’ car, but they had already fled the vehicle. They took refuge in a nearby building, according to accounts confirmed to L’Orient-Le Jour by a security source, Tiri municipal head Ali Sheaito, and our correspondent in southern Lebanon.
A third Israeli strike then hit the three-story building, seriously injuring Faraj and killing Khalil, whose body rescuers later found under the rubble.
Israeli forces blocked the Lebanese Army and the Lebanese Red Cross from reaching Tiri for several hours. Teams eventually accessed the site and recovered Khalil’s body late in the evening. Rescuers evacuated Faraj earlier and transferred her to Tibnin Governmental Hospital for surgery.
A timeline of events:
At 2:30 p.m.
An Israeli drone strike hit a vehicle on the Haddatha–Tiri–Bint Jbeil road, killing its two passengers, mokhtar Nabil Bazzi and Mohammad Hourani, both from Bint Jbeil.
According to Sheaito, Khalil and Faraj followed in a second vehicle, heading toward Bint Jbeil.
The two journalists immediately exited their car and took cover near a tree after the first strike. Emergency services and the Lebanese Army received initial calls, and authorities assigned the response to the Lebanese Red Cross, which waited for clearance from the cease-fire monitoring committee, known as the “Mechanism,” to be able to head to the scene.
A source within the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon said the Red Cross alerted UNIFIL around 3 p.m. Peacekeepers then contacted the Israeli army to secure safe passage for rescuers. “Their response took time,” the source said.
Around 4 p.m.
An Israeli drone strike hit the journalists’ vehicle, according to the security source, after they had taken refuge in a nearby three-story building. Sheaito said they waited there for emergency teams and that Khalil managed to alert a colleague.
Between 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
The Israeli army had not yet given clearance for ambulances to reach the site of the attack. At that stage, the two journalists were safe but stranded at the scene. The bodies of the two other victims had not yet been evacuated. Contacts were underway between Lebanese authorities and UNIFIL.
Around 4:25 p.m., an Israeli air strike hit the building where the two journalists had taken refuge. According to the Lebanese Army, Israeli authorities granted permission via the “Mechanism” for the Lebanese Army and rescue teams to intervene after that strike.
Sheaito said Khalil had taken shelter in the building’s garage. Rescue teams still could not reach the two journalists, who were about 500 meters away, as rubble from Israeli bombardments blocked the road.
Between 4:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m.
Lebanese Red Cross teams recovered the bodies of Bazzi and Hourani, and Faraj, who was severely injured and then evacuated to Tibnin Hospital with a head injury and a leg fracture.
Israeli troops prevented rescue operations by dropping a stun grenade near rescuers, according to a security source. Khalil remained trapped under the rubble and could not be rescued.
According to the state-run National News Agency, Israeli troops also fired at the ambulance transporting Faraj to Tibnin Public Hospital.
Around 6:20 p.m.
Security authorities urgently requested that the “Mechanism” allow the Lebanese Red Cross and heavy construction equipment to resume operations to continue searching through the rubble.
Around 7:30 p.m.
Lebanese Red Cross and Civil Defense teams finally received authorization to resume the search, supported by an excavator. A second machine arrived shortly afterward.
Rescue teams reached the ground floor of the building, where Khalil had likely taken shelter. Faraj said she had been there minutes before the strike, according to our correspondent.
Around 11:00 p.m.
Civil Defense teams recovered Khalil’s body from under the rubble, according to a statement. Rescuers first transferred her body to Tibnin Hospital, where her family had gathered, according to a local official from Baissariyeh (Nabatieh), her hometown. The body arrived in the village around 2 to 3 a.m.
According to the Lebanese Press Editors Syndicate, Israeli strikes have killed 27 journalists since the start of the war in October 2023.
Since fighting resumed in Lebanon on March 2, Israeli attacks have killed 2,454 people and displaced more than 1 million, according to the Health Ministry.
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