Two Reuters cameramen were assaulted by Israeli soldiers in Hebron, West Bank on Wednesday, reports Reuters.
The soldiers punched the cameramen, forced them to strip in the street and let off a tear gas canister in front of them, leaving one of the victims in need of hospital treatment.
Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson Avital Leibovich said that "the regional brigade commander was ordered to open an investigation," but no further information will be provided until the investigation is complete.
The victims, Yousri al Jamal and Ma’amoun Wazwaz said that they had been stopped by a foot patrol while driving to a checkpoint where an Israeli border guard had shot a Palestinian teenager dead.
Although their car was clearly marked ‘TV’ and both cameramen were wearing press jackets, they were forced to leave their vehicles by the soldiers who punched them and struck them with the butts of their guns. The Reuters cameramen said that the soldiers had accused them of working for B’Tselem, an Israeli NGO which documents human rights violations on the occupied West Bank.
Jamal and Wazwaz said that they were not allowed to produce their ID papers and were instead forced to strip down to their underwear and made to kneel on the road with their hands behind their heads.
Two other local Palestinian journalists were also stopped and forced to the ground, and the IDF patrol ran away as one soldier dropped a tear gas canister between the men.
Editor-in-chief of Reuters News, Stephen J. Adler said:
"We deplore the mistreatment of our journalists and have registered our extreme dismay with the Israeli military authorities.”
See here for full report on Reuters.
