PALESTINE (VOP TODAY NEWS) – A Palestinian journalist died on Saturday from wounds sustained by the Israeli army as he covered protests on the Gaza-Israel border, Palestinian health officials said.
Yaser Murtaja, a 30-year-old journalist, was a photographer for the media establishment Eye Media, the 29-year-old in the week-long protests.
Murtaja picture showed him lying wounded on a stretcher and wearing a blue jacket with the word “press” in large English letters in black. Health officials said a live bullet pierced his stomach and that he died of his injuries in hospital.
“The IDF does not deliberately target journalists. The cases in which journalists were reported to have been shot by the IDF are not usual for the forces and are under investigation.”
Protests began on March 30 on the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel in daily demonstrations called the “Great March of Return” to revive a long-standing basic demand – the right of return for Palestinian refugees to towns and villages that fled or were expelled from their families at the time of the establishment of the State of Israel.
Israel deployed snipers to stop attempts to breach the border or sabotage the security fence.
Ashraf Abu Amra, a freelance photographer, told Reuters he was next to Murtaja, who said he was wearing a helmet and a bulletproof vest, clearly indicating he was a journalist.
“We were shooting the young people who set the tires on fire. We were about 250 meters from the border police. The Israeli soldiers opened fire and the injuries began to occur among the young men,” he said. “Yasser and I started to take pictures of them.”
“I shouted at him: Are you okay? When he did not answer me and there was a lot of blood down from him I realized that his injury was bad.”
Video footage showed Murtaja being placed in an ambulance as crowds surrounded and smoke rose from a distance as protesters set fire to tires in eastern Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
– Funeral –
Christophe Deloire, secretary-general of Reporters Without Borders, condemned what the organization called Israel’s disproportionate response and called for an independent investigation into the incident.
He was married and had a two-year-old child. Hundreds of mourners, including many journalists, attended his funeral on Saturday.
The body of Murtaja wrapped in the Palestinian flag and put his protective press jacket next to him on the bench during the funeral procession in the streets of Gaza City.
“I prepared breakfast for him and ate quickly because he was in a hurry to work,” said Yusra’s mother Yusra, recalling the morning of the protest in which he was wounded while sitting on the ground to receive mourners at home. God chose him martyr .. Praise be to God.”
Israel Radio quoted an unnamed source in Gaza as saying that Murtaja was directing a plane camera on Friday. Abu Amra and two other Palestinian journalists said Mortajeh was not operating a plane camera when he was wounded.
On his Facebook page, Murtaji posted two photos taken from the air to the border area last week but it was not clear if he had picked them up.
Gaza officials said at least three other journalists were injured on Friday in other locations.
The Israeli response to the protests has drawn international criticism. Human rights groups say the response included firing live ammunition at demonstrators who did not pose a direct threat to the lives of the soldiers.
The European Union said in a statement that the killings raised serious questions about the use of force. He added that reports from Israel about throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at soldiers with attempts to cross the border fence “must be clarified.”
Israel says it has warned Gazans for weeks not to approach the border fence.
“The IDF uses means such as warnings, riot dispersal and as a last resort to fire live bullets in a controlled and calculated manner. The IDF is committed to preventing infiltration into Israeli territory and threats to Israeli soldiers and civilians.”
The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) says the protests demanding the right of return will continue.
The Israeli government refused to grant any right of return, fearing that the state would lose its Jewish majority.
Israel says most of the dead are militants and that Hamas, which the West classifies as a terrorist group, uses the protests as a cover for attacks on the border and igniting the area, putting civilians in the Gaza Strip at risk. Hamas denies this.
