A Reuters journalist was killed Friday while reporting from southern Lebanon, and several others were injured, including two from the same news agency.
“We are deeply saddened to learn that our videographer, Issam Abdallah, has been killed,” a Reuters spokesperson told VOA on Friday.
Abdallah was part of a Reuters crew in southern Lebanon who were providing a live signal at the time of the strike, the spokesperson said.
The video has since been removed.
“We are urgently seeking more information, working with authorities in the region, and supporting Issam’s family and colleagues. Our thoughts are with his family at this terrible time,” the spokesperson said in the statement.
Reuters journalists Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh also were injured and are seeking medical care, the spokesperson added.
The broadcaster Al Jazeera said that two of its journalists, Karmen Jokhadar and Eli Brakhia, were injured at the same time. Agence France-Presse also reported that two of its team were injured and that the shelling took place after an attempted push into Israel from Lebanon by a Palestinian faction.
The AFP named its injured crew as Christina Assi and video journalist Dylan Collins.
Details of the incident were not immediately clear.
Journalists Covering Israel-Hamas War Face Challenges
The Israeli military has carried out strikes on its border with Lebanon in response to rocket and militant attacks.
The Reuters journalists are believed to have been hit by one such strike, according to Agence France-Presse and Al Jazeera. VOA could not immediately verify if that was the case.
The Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan said Friday he had just learned of the attack and that Israel will "always try to mitigate and avoid civilian casualties."
Saying that Israeli forces would never want to "kill or shoot any journalist that is doing the job," Erdan said: "We were in a state of war, things might happen. We regret them, we feel sorry. And we will investigate it. Right now, it's too early to call what happened."
The conflict playing out in a densely packed region has already led to media casualties.
At least 10 other journalists have been killed while reporting from Gaza since Israel declared war on Hamas following the militant group’s bloody incursion into southern Israel last week, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Friday the U.N. is concerned by reports of explosions in the U.N. Peacekeeping Mission area of South Lebanon and the “distressing reports” of a journalist being killed and others injured.
“Journalists need to be protected and allowed to do their work,” Dujarric said.
