UN-Truth

This photo ran in the NY Times — I noticed it thanks to Angry Arab:

NYT photo caption: “Wounded Palestinians [n.b. - these are children] lay near the car of Fadel Shana, a cameraman for Reuters who died in a missile attack on Wednesday in Gaza”. According to Reuters, they also died.

UPDATE: AP says that “The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem released pictures that it said showed the journalist was killed by a flechette shell, which spews hundreds of darts. The munition is not banned under international law, but the group said it shouldn’t be used in a crowded area like Gaza. The military said it would not discuss munitions it uses, but insisted all are legal. In response to a call for an investigation by the Foreign Press Association, the military said, ‘At the moment, there is no investigation going on’.” This story can be read in full here .

Reuters has just reported that “A medical examination showed on Thursday that metal darts from an Israeli tank shell that explodes in the air caused the death of a Reuters cameraman killed a day earlier in the Gaza Strip, doctors said. X-rays displayed by physicians who examined the body of Fadel Shana in Gaza’s Shifa hospital showed several of the controversial weapons, known as flechettes, embedded in the 23-year-old Palestinian’s chest and legs. Several of the 3 cm (1 inch)-long darts were also found in Shana’s flak jacket, emblazoned with a fluorescent ‘Press‘ sign, and in his vehicle, an unarmored sport utility vehicle bearing ‘TV‘ and ‘Press‘ markings … Shana was covering events in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip for Reuters on a day of intense violence when 16 other Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers were also killed. Abu Mizyed (Reuters soundman Wafa Abu Mizyed, who was wounded in the wrist by one of the darts) said Shana had stopped along a roadside and placed his camera on a tripod to film “wide shots” of an area near the scene of an Israeli air strike. An Israeli tank, Abu Mizyed said, was about a kilometer (half-mile) away. ‘We believe that an Israeli tank fired possibly two missiles that were full of small metal darts in the direction of the crew and the first of these killed Fadel and two other people and the second destroyed our car’, Reuters bureau chief Alastair Macdonald told a news conference. Macdonald said the Israeli army ‘told us that they can’t confirm that a tank fired at that time, in that place. But they expressed their regrets. They have said that they do not target journalists and they have said that they hope to be able to cooperate with us in investigating the incident in the interest of improving security for journalists’, he added … David Schlesinger, editor-in-chief of Reuters News, said the evidence from the medical examination ‘underlines the importance of a swift, honest and impartial investigation by the Israel Defense Forces and by the government. The markings on Fadel Shana’s vehicle showed clearly and unambiguously that he was a professional journalist doing his duty. We and the military must work together urgently to understand why this tragedy took place and how similar incidents can be avoided in the future’, Schlesinger added. Asked about the information that an Israeli flechette shell had killed Shana, an Israeli military spokeswoman said: ‘The Israel Defence Forces do not, as a rule, comment on the weapons they use. But its weapons are legal under international law. Flechettes are legal under international law and a petition filed in the (Israeli) Supreme Court against their use was rejected’, she added, referring to a case in 2003. Video from Shana’s camera showed the tank opening fire. Two seconds after the shot raises dust around its gun, the tape goes blank — seemingly at the moment Shana was hit. A frame-by-frame examination of the tape shows the shell exploding in the air and dark shapes shooting out from it. Describing Shana’s last moments, Abu Mizyed said he was moving away a group of children who were disturbing the cameraman when he heard an explosion behind him. Turning around, he saw Shana and two youngsters — who also died — lying in pools of blood“… This Reuters report can be read in full here .

The Associated Press reported that “Reuters released the final video taken by Shana in the seconds before his death. The footage shows a tank on a distant hilltop opening fire. A tank shell is seen flying toward the camera followed by a large explosion before the screen goes black. Pictures taken by colleagues after the attack showed his jeep on fire and Shana’s body lying next to it along with several other bodies strewn along the road. Shana’s jeep was marked ‘Press’ and witnesses said the cameraman was wearing an identifying flak jacket. Shana was killed near the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. He had been in the area to film the aftermath of a deadly Israeli airstrike that killed 12 Palestinians, including five children aged 12-15, according to medical officials … The Israeli military said it expressed ’sorrow’ for his death but did not accept responsibility, saying only it was investigating”. This AP report can be seen in full here .

The Foreign Press Association in Israel opened its annual general meeting in Jerusalem this morning with a long moment of silence in Shana’s memory. After the meeting, the incoming and outgoing boards issued this statement: “The FPA wishes to express its profound concern over the lack of a clear explanation from the IDF over the killing of Reuters cameraman Fadal Shana in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. The FPA urges the IDF to show greater urgency in this investigation and in addressing the concerns arising from Fadal’s tragic death. Video footage shot by Fadal himself shows that he was hit by a tank shell. At the time, Fadal was not in an area where any fighters were present. He and his vehicle had clear markings indicating he was a member of the press. He was at least one and a half kilometers from the tank from which the shell that killed him was fired. A full accounting of this occurrence from the IDF is necessary and urgent“.

Filed under: Gaza, International Law, Israel, Journalism and Journalists, Palestine & Palestinians