Body of journalist for pro-Hezbollah paper pulled from rubble of building hit in IDF strike

The body of a Lebanese journalist killed in an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon on Wednesday has been pulled from under the rubble hours after the attack.

The pro-Hezbollah daily Al-Akhbar newspaper confirms that its reporter, Amal Khalil, was killed in the strike on the southern village of al-Tiri.

Information Minister Paul Morcos also confirms Khalil’s death.

Khalil and freelance photographer Zeinab Faraj were covering developments near al-Tiri 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, Lebanon’s health ministry, a senior Lebanese military official and press advocates say.

Lebanese rescuers were able to retrieve Faraj, who had suffered a head wound, according to Elsy Moufarrej, who runs the Union of Journalists in Lebanon.

There is no immediate comment from the Israel Defense Forces on Khalil’s death. The IDF said earlier in a statement that it ​received reports two journalists were injured in a strike.

According to the IDF, the incident began when troops identified two vehicles setting out from a building known to be used by Hezbollah. After “the terrorists crossed the forward defense line and approached the forces in a manner that posed an immediate threat,” the military said the air force struck one of the vehicles and then the building “to which the terrorists fled.”