After the Israeli airstrike in Lebanon that hit journalists in October, a heavy machine gun was also fired. Lebanese Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was killed in that attack and six other journalists were injured. From a research report by TNO for Reuters, that was published on Thursdayit appears that the journalists were fired on for 1 minute and 45 seconds.
TNO analyzed images recorded by an Al Jazeera video camera, which showed that the reporters were under fire. The journalists were shot with 0.50 caliber bullets. These are used in specific machine guns of the Israeli Merkava tanks.
None of the surviving journalists at the scene remembered the machine gun fire. They all said they were in shock at that moment.
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Clearly visible
On October 13, the Israeli army fired two grenades at a clearly identified group of journalists in southern Lebanon. 37-year-old Reuters journalist Abdallah was killed immediately. The injured journalists worked for Al Jazeera and AFP, among others.
According to TNO, the seven journalists wore blue body armor and helmets, most with ‘PRESS’ written on them in white letters. The group stood in an open area on a hill near the Lebanese village of Alma al-Chaab. Also seen was a Reuters car with the text ‘TV’ in large yellow letters made of tape on both the hood and roof.
War crime
Human Rights Watch concluded after an earlier investigation that Israel had deliberately targeted the group of journalists, which would constitute a war crime. Israel says it is investigating the incident, but has not yet published any results.
In return for Reuters says Jessica Dorsey, an expert in international humanitarian law at Utrecht University, that the report “demonstrates the deliberateness with which [de journalisten] appear to have been directly attacked” confirms. According to Dorsey, if it ever ends up in a courtroom, this would be an “even more compelling argument that it is indeed a war crime.”
The Gaza war has also been called the ‘deadliest war’ for journalists; At least 95 journalists, cameramen and other media-related workers have been killed since the current war broke out on October 7. This mainly happened during Israeli attacks.