Gaza Strip invasion continues; Israel, Palestine death tolls rise; Benjamin Netanyahu speaks on hostages
A watchdog group advocating for press freedom said that the strikes that hit a group of journalists in southern Lebanon earlier this month, killing one, were targeted rather than accidental and that the journalists were clearly identified as press.
Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, published preliminary conclusions Sunday in an ongoing investigation, based on video evidence and witness testimonies, into two strikes that killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and wounded six journalists from Reuters, AFP and Al Jazeera as they were covering clashes on the southern Lebanese border on October 13.
The fact the journalists were “clearly identifiable” as press showed Abdallah’s death was not an accident, said the head of RSF’s Middle East desk, Jonathan Dagher, although he said there was not enough evidence at this stage to say the group was targeted specifically because they were journalists.
Carmen Joukhadar, an Al Jazeera correspondent who suffered shrapnel wounds to her arms and legs in the strikes, said the journalists were positioned 3 kilometres away from the fighting.
“Everything was on the other hill, nothing next to us,” Joukhadar said. “If there was shelling next to us, we would have left immediately.”
Israeli officials have said that they do not deliberately target journalists, and the incident is under review.
AP
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