Reuters news agency videographer Issam Abdallah was killed this Friday, October 13, while reporting with a team of reporters from other media in southern Lebanon and was hit by Israeli fire. His death joins that of 10 other journalist colleagues who have been executed in this new escalation of war between the Palestinian Hamas militia and Israel.
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Cover in times of war. The fueled conflict between the Palestinian militia Hamas and Israel has not only meant a humanitarian crisis with thousands of dead, injured and displaced. It is also a dangerous environment for those seeking to tell the stories of those caught in the midst of violence.
The October 13 bombing in southern Lebanon killed Issam Abdallah, a Reuters videographer, and injured at least four other journalists, including Reuters’ Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh, and two journalists from ‘Al Jazeera’, Elie Brakhya and reporter Carmen Joukhadar.
“We are deeply saddened to learn that our cameraman, Issam Abdallah, has been killed,” the Reuters statement said. Issam was providing a live video feed near the Lebanese-Israeli border. “We are urgently seeking more information, working with authorities in the region and supporting Issam’s family and colleagues,” the agency added.
Of the attack that killed Issam, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said: “We always try to mitigate and avoid civilian casualties. Obviously, we would never want to hate, kill or shoot any journalist who is doing his job. But, you know, we are in a state of war. “Things can happen.”
For his part, the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, stated that the death of the reporter in southern Lebanon shows the danger that the escalation between Hamas and Israel will intensify and transcend borders to have a regional impact.
With an overwhelming ground offensive, devastating airstrikes and widespread blockades; That is, “the total siege” that Israel promised, journalists who cover the conflict, on the Gaza border as well as on Lebanon, face particularly high risks to do their work.
In the south, Israel responds to the Hamas attack on October 7. Since the attack, in the north, attacks between the Lebanese Shiite group, Hezbollah, and the Jewish State were reactivated.
Since the start of the Israel-Gaza conflict, CPJ documented 11 killed journalists.
We are investigating reports of journalists killed, injured & missing as the conflict widened to #Lebanon and Israel launched ground raids into the blocked Gaza Strip.https://t.co/D9Tm6rNxmb
— Committee to Protect Journalists (@pressfreedom) October 13, 2023
Sherif Mansour, coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) for North Africa and the Middle East, called on the parties to recognize that they are also civilians and must take measures to guarantee their safety.
The attacks have also been against buildings that were the base of several media outlets. The organization Reporters Without Borders reported that the headquarters of the local independent newspaper ‘Al-Ayyam’, located in the Palestinian Tower in Gaza, was completely destroyed after an Israeli attack that targeted the building on October 7.
The office of the Palestinian news agency ‘Ma’an’, founded in 2005 in Bethlehem, located in the Watan tower, was also damaged.
“Journalists are not the target”
According to ‘CPJ’, in the first seven days of the conflict, the death of 11 journalists: nine Palestinians; an Israeli -and the disappearance of another-; and the assassination of Issam Abdallah.
“Journalists are making great sacrifices across the region in covering this important conflict,” added Mansour, emphasizing that “journalists are not the target” and demanding that the parties “put an end to this high and lethal number of victims.”
The media also report that the cut of supplies to Gaza makes the work of journalists, who have few hours of electricity, difficult. The impact on telecommunications, as well as the suspension of all Internet services, exacerbates the situation.
The Middle East Eye reported this Friday that it lost contact with two of its reporters based in Gaza, where electricity and fuel are not available.
Other unions have also joined the discourse “We are not the objective.” Nurses, doctors and the dozens of humanitarian workers who are caring for the victims of the conflict ask the parties for guarantees to continue their work.
The United Nations (UN) also reported that at least 12 humanitarian workers have died in Gaza due to bombing and the destruction includes UN facilities. Among them, five teachers, a gynecologist, an engineer, a psychological counselor and three members of support staff. Added to this figure are another 11 deceased healthcare workers.
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