Photojournalist Zeinab Faraj Survives Strike That Killed Colleague Amal Khalil

Zeinab Faraj watched her colleague Amal Khalil die in front of her during a series of strikes that shattered the recent ceasefire in southern Lebanon. The attack occurred on 22 April, when Faraj, a 21-year-old photojournalist, and Khalil, a 42-year-old newspaper reporter, were documenting the aftermath of a month of deadly airstrikes. The two women had agreed to the trip after Khalil contacted Faraj regarding her social media work. They were traveling south with two men, Ali Nabil Bazzi and Mohammed Hourani, who had joined them at Tebnine governmental hospital.

As the group neared the village of al-Tiri, a missile struck the car carrying Bazzi and Hourani. Faraj heard Khalil scream and saw the vehicle engulfed in flames. The two women exited the car. Faraj attempted to pull Bazzi from the wreckage, but Khalil insisted the men were gone. Faraj observed that their bodies were torn apart. She noted that she never heard the initial missile impact, only the subsequent screams.

Drones arrived immediately after the first strike. Faraj described one flying so low that she tried to cover her face, only for it to rise again. The women called emergency services, who repeatedly promised that help was on the way. Faraj said these assurances acted like an anesthetic. A paramedic instructed them to drive back up the road because ambulances were blocked. As they moved to re-enter their vehicle, a missile struck the car again.

The impact threw both women backward. Khalil wrapped her arms around Faraj, hoping the drone would mistake them for dead bodies. They took shelter in a nearby house. Khalil was bleeding from her face, hand, and leg, and could not move. Faraj sent a message to her sister before her phone battery died: "There's no hope left. Forgive me." Another drone dropped sharply toward her as she watched the road, causing her heart to stop. A missile then fell with a sound she had never heard before.

Faraj woke up trapped under rubble, struggling to breathe. A paramedic reached the site and held her by the shoulders. She begged him not to leave. A second paramedic cleared the debris. As drones returned, the rescuers pulled Faraj out while she screamed in pain. She stated that a stun grenade was dropped by a drone during the extraction. In the ambulance, she mistook the engine noise for a drone. At the hospital, nurses initially reassured her about Khalil's condition before going silent. Khalil is believed to have died approximately one hour before paramedics were allowed back to the area to rescue Faraj.

The Israeli military stated it had identified saboteurs violating the ceasefire. Human rights groups labeled the attack a war crime. They noted that the military received repeated messages requesting permission for a rescue while the women sheltered in the building. One week prior to the strike, an Israeli military spokesperson shared a video of Khalil published by her newspaper and labeled it "terrorist media." Khalil also received death threats from Israeli phone numbers.

Faraj is now preparing to return to university. She still has difficulty walking and has a visibly injured hand. A facial injury has affected the movement of one eyebrow. She wakes up at night screaming and remains on edge when she hears drones or warplanes. She is uncertain if she will return to frontline journalism. She says she is haunted by the sight of Hourani on the ground, his eyes open and looking at her.