Reuters Editor Condemns Israel For Killing Its Reporter After Publishing New Evidence of Tank Attack

Reuters’ editor-in-chief posted a statement to X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday condemning the killing of one of the news service’s journalists in an October airstrike on Lebanon.

In the clip, Alessandra Galloni blamed the Israeli Defense Forces for the death of Issam Abdallah:

The evidence we now have, and that we published today, is that an Israeli tank crew killed our colleague Issam Abdallah. We condemn Issam’s killing and we call on Israel to explain how this could have happened, and to hold to account those responsible for his death, and for the wounding of our colleagues Thaier Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh, and the three other journalists. Issam was a brilliant and passionate journalist, who was much loved in this newsroom. At Reuters, we report the news of the world with accuracy, integrity, independence, and freedom from bias. It is critically important that our journalists are able to do so safely.

Reuters also published a special report detailing the events that led up to Abdallah’s death.

The report began, “An Israeli tank crew killed a Reuters journalist and wounded six reporters in Lebanon on Oct. 13 by firing two shells in quick succession from Israel while the journalists were filming cross-border shelling, a Reuters investigation has found.”

The report then gave a blow-by-blow account of where the journalists were situated and what they were doing at the time of the attack:

A Reuters team and journalists from AFP and Al Jazeera are operating in the hills in the south of Lebanon, looking back towards Israel, which is just over 1 km away.

5:11 p.m., Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah sends a picture showing the teams setting up near a farmhouse looking south.

5:16 p.m., The Reuters team starts transmitting a live video feed pointing south as smoke rises from various positions behind hills.

6:01 p.m., After more than 45 minutes of filming, the camera pans to the right and focuses on an Israeli outpost and tank firing into Lebanon.

6:02 p.m., Less than 90 seconds later, the first of two tank rounds fired from another hill hits the team, killing Abdallah. A second round hits 37 seconds later, setting Al Jazeera’s car ablaze.

Reporters Maya Gebeily, Anthony Deutsch, and David Clarke wrote that Reuters presented its findings to the Israeli Defense Forces and asked whether Israeli troops knew they were firing on journalists.

The IDF’s international spokesman responded, “We don’t target journalists,” but did not provide further comment.

Watch the clip above via X and read the Reuters story here.

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