BY HAJARA MUHAMMD
A fireball erupts during Israeli bombardment of Gaza City on October 9, 2023. at Israel-Hamas war, Reuters journalist dead, AFP reporters, 5 others wounded
A Reuters journalist was killed Friday and five others from AFP, Reuters and Al Jazeera were wounded while working in southern Lebanon, the three news organisations said.
A group of journalists from different media outlets were near the village of Alma al-Shaab, close to the border with Israel, when they were caught up in cross-border shelling, one of the two wounded AFP correspondents said.
A Lebanese security source had told AFP that initial Israeli shelling followed an infiltration attempt by a Palestinian faction from the Lebanese side of the border.
“We are deeply saddened to learn that our videographer, Issam Abdallah, has been killed,” Reuters said in a statement, adding he “was part of a Reuters crew in southern Lebanon”.
AFP photographer Christina Assi and AFP video journalist Dylan Collins were working in the area. Both were taken to a hospital in Tyre for treatment.
Two other Reuters reporters, “Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh also sustained injuries and are seeking medical care,” Reuters said, adding it was “urgently seeking more information”.
Al Jazeera said two of their reporters were among the wounded, blaming “Israeli bombing on their vehicle”. They named them as Carmen Joukhadar and Elie Brakhya.
“We are deeply concerned that a group of journalists who were clearly identified have been killed and injured while doing their job,” said AFP’s global news director Phil Chetwynd.
“We send our deepest condolences to our friends at Reuters for the loss of Issam and we are all pulling for our injured colleagues in hospital.”
AFP correspondents had reported shelling targeting the villages of Dhayra, Alma al-Shaab and Adaysseh, with smoke billowing from the area.
The Israeli army had said in a statement not long before the journalists were hit: “A short while ago, a blast occurred on the border fence in Hanita (Western Galilee),” referring to a point in Israel just across the border from Alma al-Shaab.
