A Reuters videographer was killed and several other journalists were wounded Friday on assignment to cover the war between Hamas and Israel in southern Lebanon, his employer said.
Issam Abdallah had been filming live footage near Alma Al-Shaab at the time of his death, Reuters said in a statement.
“We are deeply saddened to learn that our videographer, Issam Abdallah, has been killed,” the company said in a statement.
“We are urgently seeking more information, working with authorities in the region, and supporting Issam’s family and colleagues.”
Reuters journalists Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh were also injured, the wire service said.
Reuters’ live feed was taken offline around 5:30 p.m. local time when the journalists behind the footage were apparently struck by a rocket, The Daily Beast noted.
In the troubling clip, a male voice can be heard yelling “F–k! F–k!” while a woman screams “What happened?” and “I can’t feel my legs! I can’t feel my legs!”
Photos from the alleged aftermath also show a burning vehicle and damaged equipment lying on the ground.
The group is believed to have been hit by an IDF shell, according to Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera reporter Carmen Joukhadar and cameraperson Elie Brakhya were also among the wounded, the outlet said.
The alleged strike occurred shortly after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed retaliatory artillery fire over the Israel-Lebanon border in response to shooting from Lebanese territory.
“There was this direct shell that hit the team,” Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem claimed on-air.
The Reuters and Al Jazeera reporters were part of the same convoy, and were all wearing jackets and helmets that identified them as press at the time of the attack, he alleged.
Shortly before his death, Issam – who was normally based in Beirut – shared a brief clip of a bombing over Alma Al-Shaab, as well as a selfie oh himself in tactical press gear with smoke rising in the background.
The post was subsequently flooded with tribute messages.
Some online mourners compared Issam to Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian-American journalist who was killed by an Israeli gunman while covering a raid in the West Bank in May 2022.
Maya Gebeily, the Reuters bureau chief for Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, tweeted that the team was “deeply saddened” by Issam’s death.
On Friday evening local time, the IDF confirmed it was conducting drone attacks on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, CNN reported.
The tense Israel-Lebanon border has been especially heated since Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel last Saturday, amid anxieties over further collaboration between the Gaza Strip-based terrorist group and Iran-backed Hezbollah.
With Post wires