Israel Shot At This Lebanese Journalist And Killed Him While He Was Reporting At The Border
37-year-old Issam Abdallah, a journalist for Reuters, was killed on Oct. 13 in south Lebanon when the Israeli military fired two missiles towards him and six other journalists.
Israeli forces killed this Lebanese journalist while he was reporting on fighting across the Israel–Lebanon border.
37-year-old Issam Abdallah, a journalist for Reuters, was killed on Oct. 13 in south Lebanon when he was covering fighting between the Israeli military and Hezbollah militants following Israel declaring war on Hamas on Oct. 7.
He had been at the border with six other journalists from AFP, Al Jazeera and Reuters.
All of them had been wearing helmets and flak jackets with “PRESS” written on them and had been in full view of the Israeli forces on the other side of the border for about an hour, according to an Amnesty International investigation.
One of their cars had “TV” written on it, and an Israeli drone, as well as helicopter also hovered above them for more than 40 minutes.
After the journalists live streamed for more than 45 minutes, the Israeli military fired two missiles towards them.
The first shell hit Abdallah and killed him instantly, a Reuters investigation found on Thursday Dec. 7
Less than 37 seconds later, the Israeli army fired another tank round, setting Al Jazeera’s car on fire and wounding the other journalists
28-year-old AFP photographer Christina Assi was severely injured and later had to have a leg amputated.
She remains in the hospital.
The Reuters investigation found that Abdallah was killed by a 120mm shell, which is used by the Israeli military’s tanks, according to weapons experts.
Military experts said there is no record of Hezbollah operating tanks with 120mm weapons
The Lebanese army also told Reuters that its largest tank round is 105mm and it does not have any tanks at the border with Israel.
In the days after the attack, Israel’s military said it was reviewing the incident but has not yet made any findings public.
When asked by Reuters, the Israeli military first said it “doesn’t target journalists” but did not comment further
On Friday Dec. 8, it told Reuters Abdallah had been “in an active combat zone” and was reviewing the incident.
It is illegal to target journalists under international humanitarian law, also known as the rules of war.
Two of the world’s largest human rights groups, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have called for Abdallah’s killing to be investigated as a war crime.
