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Orange House Hit
Lebanese conservationist Mona Khalil, 76, died after being wounded when an Israeli airstrike hit her home at Mansouri beach in southern Lebanon on June 4, and she succumbed to her injuries on June 19.
“(CNN) — Lebanese environmental activist Mona Khalil dedicated her life to protecting endangered turtles along Lebanon's southern coast, before she lost her life on Friday, succumbing to injuries sustained in an Israeli airstrike earlier this month”
NPR reported that Khalil died Friday after an Israeli airstrike hit her beachside home two weeks earlier, and that her housekeeper sustained less-severe injuries in the attack.
The Orange House, described as a base for Khalil’s sea turtle conservation work near al-Mansouri beach in Tyre province, was the site of the strike, and the Israeli military said it had no indication it had hit the house but was reviewing its records.
AP reported that mourners gathered in Beirut on Sunday after Khalil died of wounds sustained in an Israeli strike on her home in the village of Mansouri earlier this month, and that she was critically injured in the attack on her home on Lebanon’s southern coast.
Israeli Response and Grief
NPR said the Israeli military told it that it had no indication it had hit the house but was reviewing its records, and it did not respond to a query about when the review might be completed.
AP quoted journalist and environmental activist Fadia Jomaa saying, “She said I am a civilian, I have no weapons, I will shut my door,” describing Khalil’s decision to stay in her home during the fighting.
AP also quoted Jomaa recalling Khalil’s view of the place she protected, saying, “My soul will stay here,” as she pointed to the olive tree or a small hill overlooking Al-Mansouri beach.
In a separate account, the Times of Israel reported that the Israel Defense Forces told CNN that Khalil was not a “target,” and that “there is no known IDF strike in which she was injured.”
Conservation Legacy at Risk
AP described Khalil’s work at the heart of a narrow stretch of coastline, Al-Mansouri beach in Tyre province, where each nesting season she and volunteers would patrol at night, marking fresh tracks in the sand and relocating vulnerable nests away from human activity and coastal light pollution.
The Orange House, which AP said became a small conservation hub and ecotourism site in Mansouri, functioned as a training ground for volunteers documenting nesting activity along the coast and hosting sea turtle hatchling viewings during the summer nesting season.
AP reported that Khalil and her domestic worker were rushed to the hospital after the June 4 strike, and it said it was not clear what the intended target of the strike was.
NPR added that Khalil was credited with creating a conservation movement in southern Lebanon that protected sea turtle nesting grounds and the Mediterranean coast, and it quoted Green Southerners describing her work as making her “one of Lebanon’s most respected voices for marine conservation and biodiversity protection.”
