(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has written to Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz calling for a “quick and thorough” investigation to determine how cameraman Majdi Al Arabid, of Channel 10 television station, was shot and wounded in a 2 January 2005 incident in the town of Beit Hanoun (northern Gaza Strip). Al Arabid was struck twice – […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has written to Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz calling for a “quick and thorough” investigation to determine how cameraman Majdi Al Arabid, of Channel 10 television station, was shot and wounded in a 2 January 2005 incident in the town of Beit Hanoun (northern Gaza Strip).
Al Arabid was struck twice – once in the stomach and once in the leg – as he filmed an Israeli military incursion in Beit Hanoun. He was rushed to Kamal Edwane Hospital, where he underwent an operation before being transferred to Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva (84 km south of Jerusalem). His condition has since improved but his injuries remain serious.
“At least three journalists were injured in Israeli Army shootings in 2004 and three others were physically attacked,” RSF noted. “We regret that the Israeli Army does not take the presence of journalists sufficiently seriously and does not do everything possible to protect them.”
Israeli authorities have opened an investigation. The source of the shooting is not yet known, but the trajectory of the bullets suggested they came from Israeli positions.
Al Arabid expressed surprise after the shooting as he had previously established contact with the Israeli soldiers, who therefore knew that journalists were present at the scene.
Schlomi Eldar, a Channel 10 journalist who was with Al Arabid, told public radio that the Israeli soldiers “opened fire without warning.” Several local media teams were covering the military incursion at the time.
