Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed a journalist on Wednesday after rescuers were blocked from accessing the building where she was buried under rubble because of further Israeli fire, according to several witnesses.
Amal Khalil was covering developments near the town of al-Tayri with the photographer Zeinab Faraj when an Israeli strike hit the vehicle in front of them. They ran into a nearby house, which was then also targeted by an Israeli strike, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Rescuers were able to retrieve Faraj, who had a head wound, according to Elsy Moufarrej, who runs the Union of Journalists in Lebanon. When they returned to help Khalil, a sound grenade blocked their access to the damaged building, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, a senior Lebanese military official and press advocates. The health ministry said Israel’s military “prevented the completion of the humanitarian mission by firing a sound grenade and live ammunition at the ambulance”.
She was later found dead by civil defence, who pulled her corpse from under the rubble.
In a statement before Khalil’s death was confirmed, Israel’s military said it had received reports that two journalists were injured as a result of its strikes, and denied it was preventing rescue teams from reaching the area.
Rescuers were able to return to the site about four hours after the initial strike, Moufarrej told Reuters.
Two people were killed in the first strike on the car, Lebanese state media reported. Reuters could not immediately confirm the identities of the two people killed.
The Israeli military said it identified two vehicles that left a military structure used by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and crossed the “forward defence line”, the term Israel’s military uses to refer to the delineation of the zone of southern Lebanon that Israeli troops are occupying.
It said the cars “approached the troops in a manner that posed an immediate threat to their safety” and that it struck one of the vehicles, then a nearby building. The Israeli military said it does not target journalists. In March, an Israeli airstrike killed three journalists in southern Lebanon, with the Israeli military saying it had targeted one of the reporters.
More than 2,400 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel launched an offensive in response to Hezbollah firing missiles into Israel, according to Lebanese authorities.
Israel has seized a belt of territory at the border where its troops remain, saying it aims to create a buffer zone to shield northern Israel from attacks by Hezbollah, which fired hundreds of rockets at Israel during the conflict.