An Israeli shell struck among a group of international journalists monitoring border hostilities in south Lebanon, killing a Reuters videographer and injuring six others.
At the scene, an Associated Press photographer spotted the body of Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and several of the six injured being brought to hospitals in ambulances. A burnt automobile was seen in images from the area.
“We are deeply saddened to tell you that our videographer, Issam Abdallah, has been killed,” the Reuters news agency said in a statement.
The agency said Abdallah was part of a Reuters crew in southern Lebanon that was providing a live signal.
“We are urgently seeking more information, working with authorities in the region and supporting Issam’s family and colleagues,” Reuters said. “Our deepest condolences go out to those affected, and our thoughts are with their families at this terrible time.”
Reuters reported that two more of its journalists, Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh, were injured in the border region shelling.
Al-Jazeera TV in Qatar said that two of its employees, Elie Brakhya and reporter Carmen Joukhadar, were among the injured.
Agence France-Presse, France’s foreign news agency, said two of its journalists were also injured, but did not divulge their names.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati issued a statement criticizing Israel’s shelling of the journalists “during its aggression on southern Lebanon.”
The murders, according to UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, are “another example of the daily dangers journalists face in covering conflict around the world,” and the world body wishes for an investigation into what happened.
“Journalists need to be protected and allowed to do their work,” he said during a briefing at UN headquarters.
Later that day, scores of Lebanese journalists and rights activists gathered outside Beirut’s National Museum to mourn Abdallah’s murder and the journalists’ injuries.
The shelling occurred during an exchange of fire between Israeli troops and members of Lebanon’s armed Hezbollah group along the Lebanon-Israel border.
Gilad Erdan, Israel’s UN ambassador, told reporters that the government will look into what transpired.
“We always try to mitigate and avoid civilian casualties. Obviously, we would never want to hit or kill or shoot any journalist that is doing its job,” he said.
“But you know, we’re in a state of war, things might happen. We regret them. We feel sorry. And we will investigate it. Right now, it’s too early to call what happened there.”