LINE OF FIRE
Livestream video captures moment Reuters & Al Jazeera journalists are hit by shell on Israel-Lebanon border killing one
AN Israeli shell landed on a group of international journalists at the Lebanon-Israel border, killing one and leaving six others injured.
Horror footage appears to capture the exact moment the exploding shell struck the Reuters, Al Jazeera and AFP reporters and a woman screams: "I can't feel my legs".
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A camera capturing a livestream shot of Israel's border from Lebanon records a heavy sounding boom before dust erupts into the air and screams and shouts can be heard.
Further footage in the aftermath shows a man running to the aid of a woman collapsed on the floor as a car burns in the background.
The group of journalists had been covering the clashes on the border when they were caught up in the cross-border shelling, according to one of the wounded.
"We are deeply saddened to learn that our videographer, Issam Abdallah, has been killed," Reuters said in a statement.
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"Issam was part of a Reuters crew in southern Lebanon who was providing a live signal. Our thoughts are with their families at this terrible time."
Reuters said that two of its journalists, Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh, were wounded in the shelling.
Al Jazeera said two of their reporters were among the wounded, blaming "Israeli bombing on their vehicle".
They named them as Carmen Joukhadar and Elie Brakhya.
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AFP photographer Christina Assi and AFP video journalist Dylan Collins were also working in the area.
The injured are receiving treatment in hospital.
On Saturday, Israel said they were "very sorry" for the death of Issam Abdallah.
"We are very sorry for the journalist's death," IDF spokesman Richard Hecht said without acknowledging responsibility.
Instead, he added: "We are looking into it".
The shelling occurred during an exchange of fire along the Lebanon-Israel border between Israeli troops and members of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.
The tense border region has been witnessing sporadic acts of violence since Saturdays surprise attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel.
Journalists from around the world have been coming to Lebanon out of concern that war might break out between Hezbollah and Israel.
At least 10 journalists have killed covering the Israel-Gaza crisis so far.
Tributes have been pouring in for the video journalist as friends, colleagues and family praise his kindness.
“Issam was the sweetest colleague. He let me take a kitten I was nursing on assignment once, and made it a bed in his helmet,” friend and journalist Erika Solomon wrote on Twitter/X.
UN chief Antonio Guterres expressed his "deepest condolences" to the family of Reuters journalist Abdallah and other journalists killed in the line of duty.
"I want to say how much this demonstrates the enormous risk of spillover of this conflict, namely in relation to Lebanon," Guterres said of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
It comes as Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah has insisted it is "fully prepared" to join Hamas in its bloody war with Israel.
Foreign powers have urged Hezbollah to stay put on the sidelines - but deputy chief Naim Qassem vowed to join ";when the time comes for action".
He told supporters gathered in the southern Beirut suburb: "Hezbollah knows its duties perfectly well. We are prepared and ready, fully ready, and be are following developments moment by moment."
The group has already clashed with Israel across the Lebanese border multiple times in the past week.
Qassem added: "We will contribute to the confrontation within our plan... when the time comes for any action, we will carry it out."
Earlier today, Israeli shelling struck a Lebanese army observation post at the border on Friday, according to sources in Lebanon.
It came after the Israeli military warned of a suspected armed infiltration that it said it was responding to with artillery fire.
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Israel later ruled out that any incursion had occurred and residents of a village near the border, who had been instructed to hole up at home and lock doors and windows, were told they could again go outdoors.
Lebanese state media reported that shells struck near Alma Al-Shaab and Dhayra - the deadliest at the border since Hezbollah and Israel fought a brutal month-long war in 2006.
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