The Israeli Army’s War on The Press
More members of the press have been killed covering the latest Israel-Hamas war than died covering WW II. Advocates for the rights and safety of journalists put the blame squarely on the Israeli Army — and say that its hostility toward the press during conflicts is nothing new. Media and human rights activists cite a striking lack of accountability going back decades.
Late in the afternoon on October 13, 2023, six days after Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups launched attacks on southern Israel, 37-year-old Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was working with other reporters near the Lebanese village of Alma al-Chaab, about a kilometer from the border with Israel.
From their vantage point on a hillside overlooking Israeli army positions, the journalists, including reporters from Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Al Jazeera, set about covering a cross-border artillery exchange between the IDF and Hezbollah forces. They were wearing vests and helmets marked press, standard for media workers in conflict zones. They were working in an open area, visibly operating camera equipment. Their white SUV was clearly marked with the words “PRESS” and “TV” spelled out in large letters.
At about 5:48 p.m. Eastern European Time (EET), cameras from all three teams began broadcasting live on social media. Their cameras were pointing south toward smoke rising from artillery exploding over a hillside inside the Lebanese border. At around 6:30 p.m., the journalists turned their cameras to focus on an Israeli tank firing into Lebanon.
Ninety seconds later, Abdallah, who was leaning on a low stone wall near his camera position, was struck and instantly killed by a 120 mm shell fired from an Israeli Merkava tank. AFP photographer Christina Assi, hit in the legs by shrapnel, lay screaming on the ground. The Reuters live feed was instantly knocked out. The AFP and Al Jazeera cameras were still broadcasting when, 37 seconds later, a second artillery shell hit Al-Jazeera’s SUV, destroying the vehicle and wounding a photographer, a cameraman, a videographer, and a reporter.
One of the wounded, photographer Al-Sudani, later said to Reuters, “Why were we hit? Why didn’t they fire a warning shot? If you don’t want us to take pictures, fire a warning shot. Why suddenly hit us without a prior warning, and then try to finish us off with the second strike?”
