An Israeli shell landed in a gathering of international journalists covering clashes on the border in south Lebanon, killing one and leaving six others injured.
An Associated Press photographer at the scene saw the body of the dead journalist and the six who were wounded, some of whom were rushed to hospitals in ambulances. Images from the scene showed a charred car.
Qatar’s Al-Jazeera TV, said two of its employees, Elie Brakhya and reporter Carmen Joukhadar, were among the wounded. The Associated Press is not naming the other outlets whose journalists were killed or injured until they make public statements on the matter.
The shelling occurred during an exchange of fire along the Lebanon-Israel border between Israeli troops and members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.
The Lebanon-Israel border has been witnessing sporadic acts of violence since Saturday’s attack by the militant Palestinian group Hamas on southern Israel.
Journalists from around the world have been coming to Lebanon out of concern that war might break out between Hezbollah and Israel.
Israeli shelling struck a Lebanese army observation post at the border on Friday, three sources in Lebanon told Reuters, after the Israeli military warned of a suspected armed infiltration that it said it was responding to with artillery fire.
Israel later ruled out that any incursion had occurred and residents of a village near the border, who had been instructed to hole up at home and lock doors and windows, were told they could again go outdoors.
A well-placed Lebanese security source said Palestinian groups had tried an armed infiltration that included an attempt to breach the border fence near the Lebanese town of Alma Al-Shaab.
The alert was issued in Hanita, 500 meters (yards) from the border and opposite Alma Al-Shaab.
The military statement said there had been an explosion at the adjacent border fence, which was lightly damaged.
Lebanese state media reported that shells struck near Alma Al-Shaab and Dhayra, the sites of repeated clashes in the past week, the deadliest at the border since Hezbollah and Israel fought a brutal month-long war in 2006.
