Israeli military attacks in southern Lebanon on April 22, 2026, deliberately targeted civilians, killing Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil and severely wounding photojournalist Zainab Faraj in what amounted to a war crime, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.
Khalil, 43, was Al-Akhbar’s southern Lebanon correspondent and had covered the region’s wars since 2006, documenting repeated Israeli attacks on southern villages following the 2006 and 2023 wars. Khalil and her colleague were on a field assignment covering Israeli attacks on Al-Tiri, in the Bint Jbeil district, when they were targeted in April, leading to international condemnations.
Khalil and Faraj had taken shelter in a house after an initial strike on the area. Israeli forces then hit the house directly, reducing it to rubble, while preventing the Lebanese Red Cross and army from reaching them for hours. Field reports at the time said Khalil’s last contact with her family and the Lebanese army came at about 4:10 pm. She was later found dead, while Faraj was wounded and taken to Tebnin Governmental Hospital in a Red Cross ambulance that also came under fire.
In an investigation published on Thursday, HRW said its documented timeline showed the first of three strikes, at around 2:30 pm, hit a car travelling in front of the journalists’ vehicle. The strike killed two men they knew, Ali Bazzi and Mohammed Al-Hourani, prompting Khalil and Faraj to leave their car and shelter near a neighboring building. Half an hour later, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), sent the Israeli military a Lebanese Red Cross request to access the site and rescue the trapped journalists.
Despite the request, HRW said, a second strike took place between 3:21 and 3:42 pm and hit their car meters from their hiding place. Khalil was injured, forcing them to move inside the building. Then, at about 4:25 pm, the Israeli military bombed and destroyed the building itself. Evidence showed, according to HRW, that Israeli quadcopter drones had been monitoring the journalists as they hid before they were attacked.
Israeli military knew they were civilians
HRW concluded that “the Israeli military knew or should have known that Khalil and Faraj were civilians,” basing the finding on photographic and video evidence, witness accounts, and a deconfliction request to the Israeli military around 90 minutes before the fatal strike, outlining the presence of journalists at the site.
HRW also accused the Israeli military of obstructing rescue efforts. A drone dropped a stun grenade near Lebanese Red Cross crews, initially forcing paramedics to withdraw without rescuing Khalil or providing care that might have saved her life. It added that a Red Cross ambulance apparently came under small-arms fire, based on witness accounts and images reviewed by the organisation.
Citing a report from Tebnin Governmental Hospital, where Khalil’s body was taken that evening, HRW said she died at around 7 pm from cardiac arrest. The report said she had a head injury that caused severe bleeding. HRW said the report and its timeline indicated Khalil was most likely still alive when the Red Cross team was forced to withdraw.
The Israeli military told HRW that a preliminary inquiry found Khalil was killed during a series of events in which Bazzi and Al-Hourani were “eliminated”. It described the men as members of Hezbollah’s military wing and said the incident had been referred to the General Staff Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism. The military said it did not target journalists and respected press freedom, but did not answer the organisation’s follow-up questions about the evidence used to classify Bazzi and Al-Hourani as lawful military targets.
HRW said it reviewed accounts, posts, and photographs relating to Bazzi and Al-Hourani. It found no Hezbollah obituary posters describing either man as a “martyr” from the group’s ranks, or other evidence indicating they were fighters. The organisation noted that journalists receive the general protections afforded to civilians under the laws of war and may not be targeted unless directly participating in hostilities.
HRW called on the Lebanese government to join the International Criminal Court and issue a declaration allowing it to examine crimes committed on Lebanese territory since at least October 7, 2023. This would open the way for the prosecution of those responsible for attacks that may amount to war crimes. It also called on Israel’s allies, including the US, Britain, Germany, and EU states, to suspend arms transfers and military assistance to Israel and impose targeted sanctions on Israeli officials involved in continuing abuses.
The UN Human Rights Office said in April that Israeli forces had killed at least 259 journalists and media workers since 2023, including 210 Palestinian journalists in Gaza and 14 journalists in Lebanon. It said the available information indicated that at least 64 of them had been directly targeted.
Two Israeli soldiers killed
Separately, Reuters reported that Israeli Army Radio said on Thursday that two soldiers were killed and four others wounded in an explosion inside a building they had entered during a clearance operation. A security source told the radio station it was still unclear when the explosive device had been planted, and whether this happened before or after the ceasefire.
Following the soldiers’ deaths, the Israeli military said it had begun carrying out “targeted strikes” in southern Lebanon in response to what it called a “flagrant violation” by Hezbollah.
Reuters cited Lebanon’s Health Ministry as saying an Israeli strike on the southern town of Tebnin killed one person and wounded 11 others. Before the strikes, the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for residents of Al-Mansouri, about 25 km from Tebnin, saying it would act against Hezbollah in the area.
Lebanon’s National News Agency also said Israeli attacks on areas in the southern city of Tyre wounded at least four people. The agency said drones struck the nearby town of Burj Al-Shamali before a warplane later hit it. Residents were seen fleeing towards Tyre.
The Israeli military also carried out three airstrikes on Al-Mansouri and the area between it and Majdal Zoun, south of Tyre, according to the National News Agency.
Lebanon and Israel reached US-mediated security arrangements on June 26 aimed at easing hostilities along the border. Israel, however, said it would retain a security zone in southern Lebanon to eliminate what it described as the threat posed by Hezbollah.
