AFP (Agence France-Presse) on Saturday called on Israel and Lebanon to conduct a “thorough investigation” into the attack the previous day in which two of its journalists were injured and one from the Portal agency was killed, its agency’s management said in a press release.
“It is crucial that every effort is made to determine how a group of journalists, clearly identified as such and properly accredited, could have been targeted,” AFP chief Fabrice Fries was quoted as saying in the press release.
He called on the Israeli and Lebanese authorities “not to settle for simple checks, but to conduct a thorough investigation and provide documented, clear and transparent answers.”
One journalist killed, six injured
The attack occurred in southern Lebanon, on the border with Israel. This area has been the scene of exchanges of fire between the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Israeli army since the beginning of the war between Israel and Gaza, which was triggered by an unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7.
A Portal journalist, Issam Abdallah, 37, was killed and six others (two from AFP, two from Portal and two from Al-Jazeera) were injured, some seriously.
“The journalists who were victims of the attack said they believed they were victims of artillery or tank fire from Israeli territory,” AFP management added in its press release.
“We call on all parties involved in the ongoing tensions in the Middle East to respect the work of journalists and do everything possible to ensure their safety,” commented Phil Chetwynd, information director at AFP.
“Bloody week” for journalists
The Lebanese army on Saturday accused Israel of being responsible for the shooting. The Israeli army, for its part, said it “very much regretted” the death of Issam Abdallah, without explicitly acknowledging its responsibility, and claimed to be conducting “reviews.”
According to AFP, photographer Christina Assi was “seriously injured, particularly in the legs” and “is in the intensive care unit of a Beirut hospital after a nine-hour operation.”
“Video journalist Dylan Collins – already injured in Ukraine last July – suffered minor injuries and could soon leave the hospital,” the agency management concluded. According to the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF), ten journalists were killed for their jobs in the region during this “bloody week”, seven of them in Gaza and Lebanon.