Israeli Strike Kills Lebanese Turtle Advocate Mona Khalil Near Tyre

Lebanese marine ecologist Mona Khalil, 76, died after injuries from an Israeli strike hit her home on Mansouri beach near Tyre in southern Lebanon, according to the BBC and UPI.

“Lebanese marine ecologist Mona Khalil, who was severely wounded after an Israeli strike hit her home near Tyre last week, has died, according to local reports”

Al Jazeera

The BBC said Khalil was injured when her house on Mansouri beach, near the southern city of Tyre, was hit during Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon two weeks ago, and she died on Friday after several days in hospital.

Al Jazeera

UPI reported that Khalil died after suffering injuries when her home was hit by an Israeli strike at al-Mounsouri Beach on Lebanon's southern coast on June 5, and that her assistant was also injured in the attack, according to Green Southerners.

UPI also quoted the Israeli military telling CNN that Khalil "was not a target" of the Israel Defense Forces and that "There is no known IDF strike in which she was injured."

Khalil’s death has prompted her family to warn that the sanctuary she built on south Lebanon’s coast could disappear, with her niece Sarah Beydoun telling The New Arab, "Our fear is that the beach dies with her; our hope is that it does not,".

The New Arab said Beydoun described Mansouri beach as one of the eastern Mediterranean’s most important nesting sites for endangered sea turtles and said Khalil spent more than 25 years protecting loggerhead and green sea turtles.

An-Nahar

The New Arab also quoted Beydoun recalling how Khalil led children from the Orange House children's club to the beach to watch turtles hatch and said, "Mona was a force of nature."

BBC coverage tied Khalil’s conservation work to the Orange House Project, saying she helped establish it after a life-changing encounter in 1999 when she saw a green turtle laying eggs on Mansouri beach.

While the Israeli military told CNN that Khalil "was not a target" and said strikes were conducted after evacuation warnings, her family and conservation voices pressed for accountability and protection of what she built, according to UPI and The New Arab.

“Lebanese turtle conservationist Mona Khalil killed by Israeli strike Lebanese environmental activist Mona Khalil, whose work helped turn a stretch of coastline in southern Lebanon into one of the eastern Mediterranean's most important nesting sites for endangered sea turtles, has died after being wounded in an Israeli strike”

BBC

The New Arab reported Beydoun calling for accountability, saying, "We demand that it be investigated," after describing that "The [Israeli forces] struck her house after she refused an 'evacuation order' to abandon Tyre,".

Khaleej Times said a medical source had told AFP that Khalil was badly wounded in an Israeli strike on June 4 that hit her home in the village of Mansouri, around 10 kilometres south of Tyre, and that she died on Friday.

Khaleej Times also quoted Greenpeace Middle East and North Africa program director Julien Jreissati saying Khalil had "dedicated decades of her life to protecting the sea turtles and coastline of Mansouri," as activists mourned the loss of the environmental movement’s work in the region.