IDF says it killed Reuters camaraman in Gaza without knowing he was a journalist

Haaretz is reporting that the Israeli Defense Forces is saying that its troops who killed Reuters cameraman in Gaza didn’t know they were firing at TV crew: “Israel Defense Forces troops were unable to identify Reuters News cameraman Fadel Shana as a journalist before they fired at him from a tank, the army said on Wednesday, citing the preliminary results of an investigation. Shana died while filming on a road in central Gaza on April 16. Five other Palestinians also died in the attack. Shana had been travelling in a vehicle that was marked with large press and TV stickers on the front and sides and was wearing blue body armour with ‘Press’ in large blue letters on a white fluorescent panel on the front. Responding to repeated requests for an official explanation of the incident, IDF spokeswoman Major Avital Leibovich said the army had not yet completed its investigation but would provide a full account as soon as possible. ‘The initial investigation showed they were not identified as members of the press’, she said … Reuters News editors met Leibovich and representatives of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office on Wednesday to urge the Israeli military to share the findings of its investigation. ‘We owe it to the family of Fadel Shana and journalists working for Reuters and other media organisations to establish exactly what happened two weeks ago’, said Mark Thompson, Reuters News managing editor for Europe, Middle East and Africa”. This report is published on Haaretz here .