BAYSARIYEH — Amal Khalil, a 43-year-old journalist for Al Akhbar, was killed when an Israeli strike hit the house where she had taken shelter in southern Lebanon during the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. Freelance reporter Zeinab Faraj was wounded in the same attack.

Khalil was driving through Tayri, approximately four miles from the Lebanon-Israel border, when an Israeli missile struck a vehicle driving in front of her, killing its two occupants. A subsequent strike hit Khalil's car and wounded her in the shoulder. She and Faraj then sheltered in a nearby house in Baysariyeh.

At 4:27 p.m., a missile struck the house, collapsing its roof on the two women. Permission for the Red Cross to advance to the site did not come until almost two hours after the initial attack. Movement in the area during the ceasefire required coordination through a U.S.-French mechanism to stay the fire of Israeli troops occupying south Lebanon.

"We attacked 'terrorists' in vehicles who approached Israeli troops in a manner that posed an immediate threat to their safety," the Israeli military said. The military denied preventing rescue teams from reaching the area.

Khalil was the ninth journalist killed in Lebanon in 2026. Earlier in March 2026, an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon killed three journalists. Israel said one of the journalists targeted in that attack was a member of Hezbollah.

The Committee to Protect Journalists called for an investigation. "Khalil's killing must be a wake-up call for the international community to enforce international law, urgently investigate Israel's 262 killings of journalists across the region [since Oct. 7, 2023], and hold all those responsible to account," the organization said.

Sara Qudah, the group's regional director, addressed the rescue delay. "The Israeli military's obstruction of medical crews from rescuing wounded civilians is a brutal and recurring crime we have already witnessed in Gaza and now again in Lebanon," she said.

Khalil was born in south Lebanon and worked for a newspaper whose editorial line is supportive of armed resistance against Israel. During the 2024 conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, she received death threats from an unidentified Israeli phone number warning she would be killed if she remained in the area. On March 2, 2026, Hezbollah launched missiles and drones on Israel, saying the attack was revenge for Israel's killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and for approximately 13,000 Israeli violations of the 2024 ceasefire.