“We were filming in a safe place, I was wearing my flak jacket and my helmet — even the car I was in had a ‘PRESS’ and ‘TV’ sign marked on it. It was clear that I was a civilian and a journalist. We were targeted,” he told CNN.
Those are the words of TRT cameraman Sami Shehada, in a video that was taken on Friday after his leg was blown off following an IDF strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp. His accusation echoes what World Central Kitchen founder, José Andrés said, following the IDF attack on their humanitarian aid convoy:
“What I know is that we were targeted deliberately, nonstop until everybody was dead in this convoy…”
“This was not just a bad luck situation where ‘oops' we dropped the bomb in the wrong place,” Andres told Reuters. “This was over a 1.5, 1.8 kilometers, with a very defined humanitarian convoy that had signs in the top, in the roof, a very colorful logo” he said. It was “very clear who we are and what we do."
What makes Friday’s attack on the refugee camp even more inexplicable is that this was carried out by IDF soldiers, on the ground.
From CNN:
Israeli forces surrounded and attacked the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Friday, wounding several journalists and at least one other person.
TRT, itself, in a statement released and mentioned in the CNN reporting following the incident, made clear that it wasn’t just the opinion of Shehada, alone:
Turkish state broadcaster TRT accused Israeli tanks of launching a “targeted attack” on the journalists, including TRT Arabi cameraman Sami Shehada, who lost a leg, and correspondent Sami Barhoum, who suffered minor injuries. CNN stringer Mohammad Al-Sawalhi was also among those hurt.
The TRT statement called the assault "a deliberate attack against media professionals, marked clearly with 'PRESS' on their jackets" and said it was "part of a broader pattern of violence" against journalists in Gaza. As of Friday, at least 95 media workers have been killed covering the war, according to preliminary figures from the Committee to Protect Journalists.
According to CNN, they’ve requested comment on the attack from the Israel Defense forces and allegations that journalists were targeted at the camp, following the attack on WCK aid workers and the similar accusation from WCK, LLC. As of this writing, there has been no response.
It should be mentioned that the Nuseirat refugee camp was hit by many Israeli airstrikes over the last week. However, unlike those attacks, this was not an airstrike: this was a ground assault by IDF soldiers, using artillery fire.
I’m not going to take a position on whether or not the WCK or the journalists involved in this new attack, were the victims of intentional Israeli targeting of aid workers and journalists — but with over 95 members of the media dead (and the catastrophic attacks on non-combatants), this has become a deeply disturbing and exigent pattern, requiring intensive outside investigation.
NOTE: Considering the reporting on an imminent strike on Israel from Iran in retaliation over Netanyahu’s attack on the Iranian consulate, I felt this story should be posted, as it may be overlooked if things escalate to that degree.