Cameraman films shell that kills him

This is quite a horrific video highlighting the true bravery of the Reuters cameraman.

I wasn't expecting the graphic images in the video, especially at 6am, but they are a true representation of what these people go through to cover the world's issues.

Really, really hard viewing.

An awful shame, I don't think enough credit is given to the people who risk everything on a daily basis to show us whats going on in the world.

The job they do is so important, without them not only would we be blind to many world events but I believe more atrocities would be committed because the perpetrators would have less fear of being exposed.

Creepy. Not an easy gig. The opening camera angle seems rather safe, but what a devastating ending.

WOW!

All the bodies I saw were unarmed...including the cameraman...disgusting...the editor from Reuters mentions an investigation by the Israeli government....will it ever happen? yeah, right....I've never heard of Israel apologizing for killing innocent Palestinians...or vice versa for that matter (I tend to side with Palestine on this issue, but killing innocent people, no matter your justification, is not the answer...)

This video also brings up another issue....You'll never see something like this in the mainstream news media in the States....We watch the most graphic movies imaginable (the new American obsession with 'torture porn'), but we refuse to show the real life brutality of war. It affected mattbrawn and the rest of us I'm sure and might convince many pro-war people to rethink their stance....

They used to show graphic stuff in the states, but since it knocked some sense into people and had them expand their minds, they don't do it anymore!

Palestinians must be the hardest suffering people on the planet. The worst part is, not enough people are aware of that.

This goes to show how in wartime a camera can look like a gun from hundreds of meters away. Journalism in a warzone is dangerous- but necessary- duty. My thoughts go out to Fadel's family.

Religious Wars = Longest standing contradiction of human existence.

ISRAEL MUST BE STOPPED....... they are poisining the world...........
not the jewish masses..... but the zionist slave masters

I wonder if anyone would have noticed if he were just a "normal" Palestinian. Is this only news because he was working for a English network? Would it still be news if he was working for Al Jazeera?

This is so what's happening everyday there! War is brutal! And sadly, it will go on and on.

This was hard for me to watch. I cant believe that he died when he seemed so far away from the tank.

good bye my dear friend
good bye fadel ,
yesterday was you and we dont know whos will be next
the israeli army are blind ,
they could kill you but they will never kill the truth ,
whatever will cost us , we will keep showing the truth to the world .

God bless your soul my dear

Journalist_pal, let me start by expressing my condolances to you.

Now for my original post:

I'm guessing the Israeli's were thinking the camera was some kind of missile launcher.

This has happened before, for instance the two journalists that died in the blasting of the Palestine hotel in Iraq (by a US tank).

You start to wonder who these people in the tanks are to decide on someone else's life just like that.

Outrageous!

By the looks of it, I think they may have aimed for the vehicle and the cameraman got caught in the blast. I still don't understand why they would shoot at it when the car was clearly marked TV...

Can you really blame the tank for firing? I mean, if you were sitting in the gunner's seat, and a vehicle stopped in your sights and some guy gets out and mounts something resembling a RPG on his shoulder, and then points it right at you, then you only have a split second to decide what to do. Unfortunately, in war zones (and this should be common sense), people shoot first and ask questions later. It's a sad scenario, but you assume risks as a journalist in a war zone. In this situation the tank probably did what they felt was necessary to protect themselves.

I think that was a really stupid move on the cameraman's part to hop out and point that shoulder mounted camera at a tank.

End the occupation!!!

I hope this makes it to all the major news outlets internationally. This video is much more powerful than any eye witness account.

Now imagine living like this every single day..shame

Ando:

Cameras like the one the cameraman was using are about the size of a lunchbox. Pretty small, and not at all similar in appearance to an RPG. Even at such a great range, it would be quite a stretch to mistake a camera for such a weapon.

Thats really heavy, I have the utmost respect for reporters who try and document things like these and die doing so.

jpoRS-

Did you see his camera in the photograph of him standing in front of the tank? That thing is the size of an RPG for sure! Where did you get the idea that it was "about the size of a lunchbox"? Do you work for Reuters? Were you there?

Based on what I saw in the video, the SUV stopped behind a hillside. On top of the hillside there was vegetation obscuring the small "TV" sign on top of the SUV. The cameraman then pointed a large, shoulder mounted object at the tank while in a warzone on a day of intense violence. What would you do if you were in that tank and your life was at stake? Can you honestly say you would wait to see an RPG headed straight for you to fire back?

In my opinion, the camera crew's negligence likely caused the unnecessary deaths of the innocent civilians nearby. As a journalist, it's one thing to endanger yourself, but it's unacceptable to put bystanders at risk. Granted, the tank crew responded quickly, and with an unexpected response, but given the situation I have to side with the tank crew on this one. They probably thought were defending themselves from what could have been a potentially lethal hit & run rocket attack.

Journalists have often been intentionally killed by Israelis in Palestine and by Americans in Iraq, because they reveal and show what both Israel and the US do not want people to see.

I think you can hear her voice break a little in the end.

wow, thats intense real life. The risks us cameramen take to capture the world how it really is. I am sure the crew will be remembered for their risks and showing the world media.

Jesus. I do not think the tank knew that it was firing at a camera crew, but this does show the recklessness that can be caused when a soldier is armed and on edge.

I can't imagine living in a place where a tank could be the last thing I see. My thoughts go out to Fadel, his friends and family, the Palestinians, and the guys in that tank - none of them will sleep well tonight.

Yeah they might not have even known initially that it was a camera crew. I feel bad for everyone involved in the situation. But let's not forget about the problem on in the big picture. The conflict between Israels and Palestinians could be deflated through the creation of a Palestinian state. I think that's the most logical solution to the problem. They need to be able to have elections and vote for who represents them in government and have basic human rights like people do in the nation of Israel.

This is a prime example of how war is unpredictable and unforgiving. Can't we learn to talk it out?

Oh Yonie, next time im gonna put a signboard that say im not fighter this is a camera dont shoot .

and to not put TV stamp on my car because they may they may read it as Terorist Vanguard !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
dont guess alot the truth is clear ,

Amen.

It is one thing to find the plight of the Palestinians sorrowful, but it is another to blame Israel for it.

The Pali's had their land but left it when their Arab neighbors told them to leave, so that they could kill the Jews without Arab casualty. They were promised that after the Jews were driven into the sea, the Pali's could come back and claim their land.

One problem: their Arab neighbors lost, and Israel was not about to give the Pali's who left their land back. My opinion: damn straight!

For those Pali's who stayed, they enjoy a better life in Israel, with more economic, social, and political power than anywhere else in the Arab world. How ironic, and yet they clamor for their host country's destruction. Even when an Arab is currently in the Israeli parliament, but a Jew must hide his identity to live safely in the Arab lands.

Does anyone talk about how the Arab countries forced Jews to immigrate to Israel soon after Israel was created? Why doesn't anyone talk about that big land grab by the Arab governments? (Hint: probably because Jews are better off in Israel, but Arabs are not better off in Arab countries)

Israel must occupy Palestine, not because they enjoy wasting their precious resources doing so, but because everytime they stop, they get rewarded with bombs and rockets.

Palestinians will lead a life of dignity when they start to love their own lives more than they hate the lives of Westerners. Jews made three deserts bloom (Las Vegas, California, and most recently Israel), surely they would help the Palestinians make their own land bloom if they stopped teaching their children to hate the Israelis but to work with them instead.

kaivan..you bring up good points and I love the desert analogy. So true! BUT...maybe they should use their magic to bring peace to these people. Only a few are the aggressors against Israel. The Palestinian people DO want peace as do the Israeli people. They don't want their children killed, they don't want their medical supplies stopped at borders, they do want peace..the majority do. So, Israel thru the millennium has been a victim and should know that an eye for an eye makes the world blind. I hope I can see the day that both lands are celebrating a peaceful coexistence, and not one celebrating their statehood and the other the terrible day they lost their land....