Faraj Wakes Trapped Under Rubble

Zeinab Faraj, 21, lay trapped beneath concrete rubble in the village of al-Tiri after a missile strike killed her colleague, Amal Khalil, 42. The attack occurred on 22 April, a week after Israel agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon following a month of concentrated airstrikes in the south. Faraj was documenting the aftermath of the conflict when the strike hit.

Khalil had contacted Faraj after seeing her work on social media, and the two had collaborated on several assignments. Faraj, who was freelancing while finishing a degree in radio and TV, said she expected the trip to be routine. "I had absolutely no sense of fear," she said, noting that gunfire and artillery were audible but typical for a videographer.

The group included Ali Nabil Bazzi, 27, a municipal official in Bint Jbeil, and Mohammed Hourani, 37, a friend of the mayor. They had met earlier at Tebnine governmental hospital, a gathering point considered relatively safe. Bazzi was scheduled to sign a marriage contract that evening but joined the trip anyway. Faraj grew up in the nearby city of Bint Jbeil and described leaving it as feeling like a fish taken out of water.

Faraj did not hear the initial missile. She heard Khalil scream and saw the car ahead engulfed in flames. Faraj stepped out, thinking she could pull Bazzi free, but Khalil repeated that the men were gone. Faraj described seeing their bodies torn apart. Drones then arrived, flying low and close to the women.

Emergency services promised help was coming, which Faraj said worked "like an anaesthetic." A paramedic told them to drive back up the road because ambulances were blocked, but a missile hit their car as they tried to enter it. Both women were thrown backwards, with Khalil wrapping her arms around Faraj. They took shelter in a nearby house where Khalil, injured on the face, hand, and leg, could not move.

Faraj sent her sister a message before her phone died: "There's no hope left. Forgive me." A drone dropped sharply toward her, stopping her heart in a moment of terror, before a missile fell with an unfamiliar sound. Faraj woke barely able to breathe. A paramedic held her by the shoulders while a second cleared the debris. They pulled her out while drones returned, and a stun grenade was dropped nearby.

In the ambulance, Faraj mistook the engine for a drone. At the hospital, nurses reassured her about Khalil, then went quiet. Khalil is believed to have died about an hour before paramedics were allowed back to the area. The Israeli military said it had identified saboteurs violating the ceasefire. Human rights groups called the attack a war crime, noting the military received repeated rescue requests while the women sheltered.

Faraj is preparing to return to university but still struggles to walk properly. She has a visibly injured hand, and a facial injury affects the movement of one eyebrow. She wakes at night screaming and remains on edge around drones and warplanes. She is haunted by the sight of Hourani on the ground, his eyes open and looking at her.