Fadel Shana survived this, died in another attack

Seen at the Imperial War Museum in London where it is on display, this is the armoured Land Rover in which Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana was injured when an Israeli helicopter fired a missile at it in Gaza in August 2006.

Shana’s injuries in the strike were described as minor. Two years later, on 16 April 2008, he was killed when an unarmoured sport utility vehicle also bearing "TV" and "Press" markings in which he was a passenger in Gaza was hit by an Israeli tank shell. The 24-year-old cameraman had stepped from his car to film an Israeli tank dug in several hundred metres away. His body armour had been partially torn off by the blast.

Video from Shana's camera showed the tank opening fire. There was a flash and a puff of smoke from the tank, and a moment later the screen went black as an airburst “flechette” shell exploded in a hail of metal shards. They ripped into Shana’s chest and legs, killing him instantly.

Soon afterwards, a second shell destroyed the car. Eight other Palestinians aged between 12 and 20 lay dead or dying.

Reuters soundman Wafa Abu Mizyed, 25, was wounded in the wrist by shrapnel.

Shana’s death aroused international anger but Israel exonerated the troops who targeted him.

The Imperial War Museum notes that the vehicle on display was operating in the Gaza Strip near the Karni Crossing “when on 26 August 2006 it was hit by a rocket (or a substantial fragment thereof) fired by an Israeli helicopter. Both occupants were injured. The rocket (or fragment thereof) entered through the roof of the vehicle, above and slightly to the left of the front passenger seat, passing through the floor into the gearbox. Reuters made an official complaint to the Israeli authorities, asking why it was fired upon when it was so clearly marked as a Press vehicle. One occupant, Sabbah Hmaida (journalist in the passenger seat), was badly injured in the legs, while the other, Fadel Shana (cameraman), suffered minor injuries.”

David Schlesinger, editor-in-chief at the time of Shana’s death, wrote afterwards: “…a little more investigation, a little more military intelligence, would have shown clearly that [Shana] was just a professional doing his job. And that his camera was a weapon only for the truth.”

Fadel Shana

Imperial War Museum

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