Mona Khalil, a Palestinian conservationist beloved by British wildlife groups for her work protecting endangered sea turtles along Gaza's coast, was killed on Tuesday evening by an Israeli airstrike that struck her family home in Rafah. Sources close to the London-based Turtle Conservation Alliance confirm that Khalil, 38, had been sheltering with relatives after weeks of displacement. She leaves behind a two-year-old daughter, Laila, who survived the attack but sustained shrapnel wounds.
The killing has drawn sharp condemnation from UK environmental charities, which had funded her field research and emergency supplies. “Mona was the soul of our coastal monitoring programme,” said Dr. Helen Rosser, director of Marine Life Trust.
“She knew the nesting sites better than anyone. Her death is a loss not just for Palestine but for global conservation.” Khalil’s work had been featured in BBC Earth and National Geographic.
She had refused evacuation orders to stay with the turtles. Her body was recovered from the rubble eight hours after the strike. The Israeli Defense Forces said in a statement that the target was a Hamas command centre, but provided no evidence.
Human rights monitors have documented multiple strikes on civilian homes in the same area. The UK Foreign Office has not commented. For British conservationists, Khalil was more than a colleague: she was a symbol of resilience in a war zone, carefully recording data while bombs fell.
Her last social media post, four days before her death, showed a hatchling crawling toward the sea. Caption: ‘Hope still floats.’ She made it to the shore.
She didn’t make it back.
