The Israeli army announced on Saturday that it is initiating an investigation into an incident that occurred in southern Lebanon, resulting in the tragic death of a Reuters journalist. According to an eyewitness account provided to Reuters, the journalist was struck by missiles that were fired from the direction of Israel.
At a routine press briefing, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht, an army spokesperson, conveyed their awareness of the incident involving the Reuters journalist and assured that an investigation was already underway. "We are aware of the incident with the Reuters journalist," he stated. "We are looking into it. We already have visuals. We're doing a cross-examination. It's a tragic thing," he added.
Lebanon promptly responded to the incident by announcing its intent to file a formal complaint with the United Nations Security Council, specifically addressing what it perceives as "Israel's deliberate killing" of the Reuters video journalist, Issam Abdallah, who was a Lebanese national, as reported by state media.
Issam Abdallah was among a group of journalists representing various media organizations, including Al Jazeera and Agence France-Presse. Tragically, he lost his life on Friday while in the process of providing a live video feed for broadcasting. The group of journalists had been operating in the vicinity of the village of Alma al-Shaab, which is in close proximity to the Israeli border. This area has been a focal point for clashes between the Israeli military and Hezbollah.
Maher Nazeh, who also sustained injuries in the same incident alongside his Reuters colleague Thaer Al-Sudani, described the harrowing events. He explained that they were in the process of filming missile launches originating from the direction of Israel when one of these missiles struck Issam Abdallah, who was seated on a low stone wall in the vicinity of the rest of the group. Just moments later, another missile struck the group's vehicle, causing it to erupt in flames.
While other news organizations, such as the Associated Press and Al Jazeera, have explicitly identified the shells as having been fired by Israel, Reuters has not been able to independently verify the source of the missiles at this time.
Agence France-Presse and Al Jazeera have both confirmed that two of their journalists were wounded in the same incident, underscoring the gravity of the situation.
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