Image Credit: Mohammed Omer - Rafah Today 2007-07-08.
Reuters Crew Also Among Journalists Targeted by Israeli Forces
BBSNews 2007-07-08 -- By Mohammed Omer. The images are devastating: an Al Aqsa TV journalist holding his camera and appealing for help, while Israeli bullets continued to target him. The most agonizing photo shows the body of the injured journalist, fallen with the first bullets to hit him. The distressing photos continue: Israeli snipers continued to shoot at his wounded, bleeding body. Hands raised over his head, his clothing marked with the distinctive "Press" logo, he was undeniably appealing for help. But the bullets pounded into his body again and again, striking his legs repeatedly. After some time, he was taken to Al Shifa hospital where his useless legs were then amputated.
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The body of Palestinian cameraman Imad Ghanem lying down at Al Shifa hospital.
Image Credit: Mohammed Omer - Rafah Today 2007-07-08. |
Imad Ghanem. A young man, in his late 20s, a cameraman for Al Aqsa satellite TV. Alive but wounded, bullet-ridden and bleeding on the ground, Israeli bullets persistently battering him. His crime? Repeated videotaping and documenting of the daily Israeli criminal violence against Palestinians. One of his colleagues managed to carry out the wounded cameraman, leaving the camera recording the event. But soon after he arrived at Al Shifa hospital, both of Ghanem’s legs were amputated.
Journalists are Israeli Targets:
At Burij refugee camp, in a separate attack, Israeli soldiers fired at journalists and cameramen, among whom were a Reuters crew. Yet, an Israeli military spokeswoman stated to Al Jazeera TV that while journalists were at risk if they entered a combat zone, soldiers did not deliberately target them.
The reality of Israeli attack-inflicted casualties disputes this allegation, this latest targeting of journalists being but one among many incidences. Take James Miller, the British cameraman killed in Rafah camp in 2003 while he was filming, not to mention other reporters and cameramen who have also been killed and injured in Gaza and the West Bank.
More and more Israeli attacks have targeted different parts of the Gaza Strip, further extending the collective misery of 1.5 million Gazans. The Israeli commando-style military incursions into the Strip hammered northern and central areas, the latest hitting Al Bureij and Al Maghazi refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip. IOF authorities allege the attacks come with the aim of stopping the launching of homemade rockets into Israeli border towns. Yet, the recent 22 hour invasion instead served to kill 11 Palestinians, injuring over 30, in addition to causing vast infrastructure damage from the heavy tank fire and air-strikes. Of the 11 who were killed, six belonged to the armed wing of Hamas. According to Palestinian sources, the militants were patrolling in the area to prevent the Israeli army from attacking more areas.
Al Shifa hospital sources report that five of the over 30 Palestinians wounded during the incursion were left in serious condition.
Mohammed Omer is a young journalist/photographer in the Gaza Strip. He and his family have a very rough time in living day to day and they have lost much. In October of 2003, one of Mohammed's younger bothers, Issam, was injured and had to have a leg amputated. Later in the same month another younger brother, Hussam Al-Mouhagir, was killed in his home; shot to death by the Israeli Army that occupies and regularly devastates Palestine. These stories are written by Mohammed who knows no peace, only the continued devastation forced upon civilians who have little voice in the world. Mohammed has covered the Occupied Territories for several years. In 2006 Mohammed won the New American Media National Ethnic Media Award for best Youth Voice. On May 18th, 2007, Mohammed was shot at by unknown militants in Gaza yet he continues to report. Visit Mohammed's Web site, or write to him to get a more complete picture of what is really happening that main-stream news sources rarely brings to its audience. We are proud to feature articles from Mohammed Omer here at BBSNews, his reporting is some of the only original, on the ground reporting available from the Israeli Occupied Territories.
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