New York, Oct. 13, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Friday shelling in southern Lebanon that killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and injured at least four other journalists.
Those wounded include two other Reuters journalists, Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh, and two Al-Jazeera TV staffers, Elie Brakhya and reporter Carmen Joukhadar. CPJ is trying to confirm the names of others reported injured in the attack.
The journalists were coverinvering the back-and-forth shelling near Al-Shaab between Israel Defense Forces and Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group.
“Journalists are making great sacrifices across the region to cover this important conflict,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “All parties should recognize that they are civilians and take measures to ensure their safety.”
Since the start of the Israeli-Gaza conflict, CPJ has documented 11 killed journalists and is investigating additional reports of journalists killed, injured, and reported missing as the Israel-Gaza conflict widened to neighboring Lebanon and Israeli troops launched ground raids into the blockaded Gaza Strip.
