An Israeli artillery attack hits a group of reporters from several media outlets who were clearly identified as press people.
At least one journalist was killed and six injured in shelling by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, according to witnesses and reporters on the ground.
Portal news agency confirmed on Friday that Issam Abdallah, a videographer, was killed in the attack.
“We are urgently seeking further information, working with authorities in the region and supporting Issam’s family and colleagues,” Portal said in a statement.
It said two other Portal journalists, Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh, suffered injuries.
The Israeli army targeted a group of journalists, including the AlJazeera team, a colleague from another agency was killed and two of our colleagues at AlJazeera and several others were injured.
— Ali Hashem علي هاشم (@alihashem_tv) October 13, 2023
Al Jazeera said cameraman Elie Brakhya and reporter Carmen Joukhadar were among the injured.
“The tank shell hit them directly. It was terrible. The situation over there was – I can’t explain it, I can’t describe it,” Al Jazeera correspondent Ali Hashem reported from Alma ash-Shaab in Lebanon, adding that the team of reporters had been clearly identified as members of the press.
The new agency Agence France-Presse said two of its reporters were among the injured. AFP reported, citing a Lebanese security source, that the shelling resulted from an attempt by a Palestinian group to enter the Israeli border from southern Lebanon. The Associated Press, citing a photographer who was present, said a nearby vehicle was charred by the attack.
The Lebanese Press Editorial Syndicate condemned the “attacks” on journalists and described Abdallah’s killing as a “premeditated crime.”
Rising tensions
Israel has been carrying out a relentless bombardment of the besieged coastal area since the Palestinian group Hamas launched a lightning attack on southern Israel from the besieged Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing at least 1,300 people. According to Palestinian authorities, at least 1,799 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.
With Israel expected to launch a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, fears are growing that fighting could spread to other fronts in the region. Armed groups in southern Lebanon have fired sporadically across Israel’s northern border, where this week has seen the deadliest clashes since 2006.
Residents of northern Israel and southern Lebanon have watched the cross-border exchanges with concern, fearing the possibility of escalation that could lead to a full-scale conflict between Israel and the massive Iran-backed group Hezbollah, which on Friday called for the Israeli attack to be a “heinous crime.” “, which would not happen “without an appropriate response”.
“Our lives are at a standstill,” Marie, a 28-year-old wedding planner from a southern Lebanon village near Bint Jbeil, told Al Jazeera. “We don’t know when things will return to normal. We ask ourselves, ‘What’s next?’”
Hezbollah has an arsenal of long-range missiles and years of combat experience gained in the Syrian war alongside the Bashar al-Assad government. His involvement would transform the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into a two-front war that could overwhelm the capacity of the Israeli military and lead to greater engagement by regional groups backed by Iran.
An Israeli shelling killed three Hezbollah members earlier this week, and Hezbollah hit an Israeli position with an anti-tank missile on Wednesday. However, so far both sides have limited themselves to mutual reactions that have allowed them to avoid a full-scale confrontation that would come at a high price.
Gaza journalists killed
At least six journalists have been killed in Gaza since Israel began attacking the besieged territory on Saturday, according to press freedom groups and media networks.
Saeed al-Taweel, Mohammed Subh and Hisham Alnwajha were killed in an airstrike on Tuesday.
According to the Palestinian press freedom group MADA and the Journalist Support Committee, Ibrahim Mohammad Lafi and Mohammad Jarghoun were shot dead on Saturday while reporting.
Mohammad el-Salhi was shot dead at the border east of the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists reported Saturday.