GAZA CITY, 18 April 2008 — A medical examination showed yesterday that metal darts from an Israeli tank shell caused the death of a Reuters cameraman on Wednesday.
X-rays displayed by physicians who examined the body of Fadel Shana in Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital showed several of the controversial weapons, known as flechettes, embedded in the 23-year-old Palestinian’s chest and legs.
Several of the 3-cm-long darts were also found in Shana’s flak jacket, emblazoned with a fluorescent “Press” sign, and in his vehicle, an unarmored sport utility vehicle bearing “TV” and “Press” markings.
“Fadel seemed to be saying a prayer. Those were his last words,” said Reuters soundman Wafa Abu Mizyed, who was wounded in the wrist by one of the darts and began to recollect the incident only a day later, after the initial shock had worn off. In an interview with Al-Jazeera television in February, Shana spoke of his dedication to journalism, saying: “It is impossible to stop me from working as a journalist under any circumstances ... I would either have to die or lose my legs.”
Shana was covering events in the Gaza Strip for Reuters on a day of intense violence when 16 other Palestinians and three Israeli occupiers were killed.
Abu Mizyed said Shana had stopped along a roadside and placed his camera on a tripod to film “wide shots” of an area near the scene of an Israeli airstrike. An Israeli tank, Abu Mizyed said, was about a kilometer away.
“We believe that an Israeli tank fired possibly two missiles that were full of small metal darts in the direction of the crew and the first of these killed Fadel and two other people and the second destroyed our car,” Reuters Bureau Chief Alastair Macdonald told a news conference.
Macdonald said the Israeli Army “told us that they can’t confirm that a tank fired at that time, in that place.”
David Schlesinger, editor in chief of Reuters News, said the evidence from the medical examination “underlines the importance of a swift, honest and impartial investigation by the Israeli Army and by the government.”
“The markings on Shana’s vehicle showed clearly and unambiguously that he was a professional journalist doing his duty. We and the military must work together urgently to understand why this tragedy took place and how similar incidents can be avoided in the future,” Schlesinger added.
Asked about the information that an Israeli flechette shell had killed Shana, an Israeli military spokeswoman said: “The Israel Defense Forces do not, as a rule, comment on the weapons they use. But its weapons are legal under international law.”
“Flechettes are legal under international law and a petition filed in the (Israeli) Supreme Court against their use was rejected,” she added, referring to a case in 2003.
Video from Shana’s camera showed the tank opening fire. Two seconds after the shot raises dust around its gun, the tape goes blank — seemingly at the moment Shana was hit.
A frame-by-frame examination of the tape shows the shell exploding in the air and dark shapes shooting out from it.
Describing Shana’s last moments, Abu Mizyed said he was moving away a group of children who were disturbing the cameraman when he heard an explosion behind him. Turning around, he saw Shana and two youngsters — who also died — lying in pools of blood.
Several hundred people, including local journalists, marched in Shana’s funeral procession yesterday. His body was draped in a Palestinian flag and his shattered camera and flak jacket were borne aloft on a separate stretcher.
