BFHR: The killing of journalist Amal Khalil is a new Israeli war crime, and international silence exacerbates crimes against journalists

The Bahrain Forum for Human Rights (BFHR) strongly condemns the war crime committed by the Zionist entity in targeting and killing Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil, a reporter for Al-Akhbar newspaper, in southern Lebanon yesterday, April 22, 2026. BFHR considers that this crime comes within the context of the Zionist entity’s ongoing direct and deliberate targeting of journalists while they carry out their professional duty of conveying facts and reporting events.

The available information regarding the crime—including the repeated targeting of journalist Amal Khalil multiple times at successive intervals, along with her colleague journalist Zeinab Faraj, while they were wearing press vests (“Press”); the subsequent shelling of the location to which they had fled; and the prevention of the Red Cross and other emergency teams from reaching the site of the attack in a timely manner—clearly indicates that we are once again faced with a deliberate Israeli killing of journalists carried out with prior intent and premeditation. This adds to the Zionist entity’s previous violations of international humanitarian law, the Geneva Conventions of 1949, and United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1738 (2006) and 2222 (2015), which stipulate the protection of journalists in areas of armed conflict and the need to hold those responsible accountable.

BFHR affirms that this new crime is the result of the continued impunity enjoyed by the Zionist entity. It has consistently evaded accountability by relevant international mechanisms for the war crimes it has been committing continuously and without interruption since October 2023 in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, and elsewhere, despite appeals and documented evidence submitted to United Nations mechanisms concerning these crimes.

Since the renewed expansion of Israeli aggression against Lebanon on March 2, 2026, the Zionist entity has targeted 10 journalists in Lebanon, killing 7 of them:
Journalists who were killed:
•    Mohammed Sherri (killed along with his wife and members of his family, including children) 
•    Ali Shuaib 
•    Fatima Ftouni 
•    Mohammed Ftouni 
•    Suzanne Khalil 
•    Ghada Al-Dayekh 
•    Amal Khalil 
Journalists who were targeted and survived:
•    Steve Sweeney 
•    Ali Al-Rida Sbeiti 
•    Zeinab Faraj 

In this context, BFHR extends its deepest condolences to the family of the martyred journalist Amal Khalil and to her professional family at Al-Akhbar newspaper, praying to God Almighty to grant her mercy and to grant her loved ones patience and steadfastness.

BFHR issues the following calls:
•    It calls on the Lebanese government not to refrain from documenting cases of the targeting and killing of journalists, and to make use of all means of pressure through international mechanisms and the media in order to pressure the Zionist entity to put an end to its crimes against civilians, including journalists. 
•    It calls on the international community, especially the United Nations and its relevant institutions, to adopt a clear and firm position regarding the targeting of journalists, to take urgent action to open independent and transparent investigations, and to hold those responsible for these crimes accountable. 
BFHR reiterates that the continued international silence regarding Israeli war crimes constitutes indirect cover for these crimes, encourages their repetition, and undermines the system of international justice.