Thousands mourn dead Gaza journalist

Thousands of Palestinians, including journalists and rival politicians, marched through Gaza City today for the funeral of a TV cameraman killed while covering a Israeli-Palestinian fighting.

Fadel Shana, a 23-year-old with the Reuters news agency, was among 20 Palestinians killed in fighting yesterday, the worst in more than a month.

Mr Shana was hit, along with two bystanders, as he filmed Israeli tank movements in the distance.

His body was wrapped in a bloody Palestinian flag, as fellow journalists marched alongside carrying his broken camera and bloodstained flak jacket.

The marchers waved Palestinian flags and carried small posters of Mr Shana posing with his camera. “Fadal Shana, goodbye, the victim of the truth,” the posters said.

Later, the body was taken to Mr Shana’s home town of Khan Younis in southern Gaza where about 3,000 Palestinians attended the funeral.

Young Palestinian men wailed in grief, gunmen fired into the air, and flags from the rival Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements were seen.

Reuters released the final video taken by Mr Shana in the seconds before his death. The footage shows a tank on a distant hilltop open fire. A tank shell is seen flying toward the camera followed by a large explosion before the screen went black.

Pictures taken by colleagues after the attack showed his car on fire and Mr Shana’s body lying next to it along with several other bodies strewn along the road.

His car was marked “press” and witnesses said the cameraman was wearing an identifying flak jacket.

Mr Shana was killed near the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. He had been in the area to film the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike that killed 12 Palestinians, including five children.

The Palestinian Journalists Union declared a one-day strike to protest Mr Shana’s death. The Foreign Press Association, representing journalists in Israel and the Palestinian territories, expressed “profound sadness.”

“His death is a stark reminder of the risks our Palestinian colleagues take every day to cover the news in Gaza,” the FPA said.

Hassan Kashef, a prominent Gaza journalist, accused Israel of targeting Mr Shana. “Israel fears the truth. And they want to kill the truth,” he said. “And Fadel was killed while his camera was showing the truth.”

The Israeli military said it was investigating the incident. It could not confirm its forces hit the journalist, but expressed sorrow for his death.

Despite near daily Israeli-Palestinian violence, casualties among journalists are rare. Only three others have been killed covering the West Bank and Gaza Strip since 1992.

Meanwhile, Egyptian mediators were trying to negotiate a cease-fire between the two sides.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the “Israeli aggression in Gaza” and urged all sides to “cooperate with Egyptian efforts.”

But Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the violence cast doubt on Egyptian cease-fire efforts. “There can be no discussion of a truce in the midst of these crimes,” he said, threatening revenge against Israel.