Issam Abdallah

[2] On October 13, 2023, Issam Abdullah traveled as part of a group of three Reuters and two AFP journalists to a hilltop in Lebanon near Aalma ech Chaab to film cross-border shelling by Israeli tanks.

Forty-five seconds later, an Israeli Merkava IV tank located at another military installation 1.3 km from the hilltop fired a 120 mm high explosive, fin stabilized shell across the border directly at Issam Abdullah, killing him instantly and punching a hole in the low stone wall he had been leaning against.

Most seriously injured of the others was Christina Assi, a photographer for Agence France-Presse (AFP), whose wounds forced the amputation of part of her right leg.

[12] Michael Downey, a journalist who works for The New York Times and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), commented on a video taken shortly before the incident: "No warning shot; that was intentional".

[9] "The tank shell hit them directly", said Al Jazeera correspondent Ali Hashem from Alma al-Shaab, adding that the team of reporters had been clearly marked as press.

"[14] Additionally, Agence France-Presse (AFP) called on Israeli and Lebanese authorities to "conduct a comprehensive investigation to determine the circumstances behind and responsibility for firing along their border that killed and wounded journalists on assignment..."[15] An open letter by Committee to Protect Journalists, Freedom House, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders said the killing of Abdallah by Israel was "apparently deliberate".

"[17] The investigation, which considered "eyewitness accounts, video footage and ballistics expertise", also concluded that it was "unlikely that the journalists were mistaken for combatants" given their situation out in the open, on top of a hill, wearing helmets and jackets marked with 'press'.

[17] A February 2024 report by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon concluded that an Israeli tank killed Abadallah when it fired at "clearly identifiable journalists", and that this broke international law.