An Al Jazeera journalist was injured on November 13 by Israeli fire while he and other correspondents were covering bombardments in the region, near cars marked “Press”.
On October 9, a strike fell a few metres from an Al Jazeera team in Marwahin, another border town in southern Lebanon.
On November 21, two journalists from the pro-Iranian channel Al Mayadeen were killed along with a civilian in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati expressed his “strong condemnation” of the incident, saying Israel’s “aim is to silence the media who expose its crimes and its attacks.”
Al Jazeera said it “strongly condemns” what it called the “deliberate targeting of journalists in southern Lebanon by Israeli forces.”
The channel urged the International Criminal Court to “hold Israel and its military accountable for these heinous crimes.”
A spokesperson for Reuters said it was “shocking that a group of clearly identified journalists could be hit by fire in this way.”
The news agency reiterated its appeal to the Israelis to conduct their own probe. “It has been nearly two months since we called for them to investigate, and we have heard nothing since.”
“About as many journalists have died in the past two months as were killed in the entire 20 years of conflict in Afghanistan,” said AFP’s Chetwynd.
“We cannot allow such a culture of impunity to develop and it is absolutely essential that we rally as an industry to ensure that something is done about this.”
As of December 6, the Committee to Protect Journalists said at least 63 journalists and media workers — including 56 Palestinians, four Israelis and three Lebanese — had been killed since the start of the war on October 7.
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CREDITS:
The research for this report was coordinated by Jean-Marc Mojon, deputy to the global editor-in-chief and global news safety manager.
Production was coordinated by Sophie Huet, global editor-in-chief.
The research was also conducted by Celia Lebur, reporter at AFP’s international hub in Paris, and Rouba el-Husseini, Beirut-based reporter and Middle East investigative projects coordinator, with the Beirut bureau headed by Acil Tabbara.
Daphne Benoit, head of the international hub in Paris, Marc Jourdier, Jerusalem bureau chief, Khaled Soubeih, head of the Arabic-language digital investigation department, Gregoire Lemarchand, digital investigation editor-in-chief, Alexis Orsini, digital investigation journalist based in Paris and several other people within the agency’s network contributed to the research.
Frederic Bourgeais, design coordinator, led graphics and interactive production. Laurent Kalfala, innovation and visuals project manager, Clara Morineau, motion designer, and Simon Malfatto, deputy head of the graphics department, also contributed. The video versions of AFP’s investigation included in this report were edited by Charlotte Houang and Margarita Govorine, Guillaume Meyer, video editor-in-chief, and his deputy Charlotte Turner.
Eric Randolph, Paris-based journalist, Chris Otton, deputy global editor-in-chief, and Richard Carter, bureau chief in The Hague, Jo Biddle, Middle East and North Africa editor-in-chief, and Francois Ausseill, Paris-based editor, contributed to the editing.
Agence France-Presse would like to thank Christina Assi, who is still in hospital in Beirut, and Dylan Collins for their testimonies, as well as all the other journalists wounded on October 13 and their employers for their cooperation and the material they made available to support this investigation. AFP would also like to thank Airwars, whose research and expertise provided the backbone of this report, as well as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch for their dedication and cooperation.