Israeli air strike kills Reuters cameraman in Gaza

ISRAEL: An Israeli air strike on Wednesday killed a Palestinian cameraman working for the Reuters news service and two other civilians, Palestinian medics and witnesses said.

Fadhil Shanaa, 25, was critically wounded when a missile hit his vehicle in the central Gaza Strip and died after being taken to hospital, Dr Muawiya Hassanein, the head of Gaza emergency services, told AFP.

The Israeli army said it was looking into the incident. An AFP photographer driving behind the Reuters jeep, which had TV and press stickers plastered across its doors and roof, said the vehicle burst into flames after a missile slammed into it.

When a group of photographers rushed to try to rescue their colleague a second missile struck the area, he said.

The reporters were driving back to Gaza City after covering an air raid in the Al-Bureij refugee camp in southern Gaza that killed at least nine Palestinian civilians, according to Hassanein.

The Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip was convulsed by violence on Wednesday, with 17 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers killed in a series of clashes and air raids on the isolated and impoverished territory.

The violence came exactly one week after Palestinian militants stormed the border with Israel, killing two civilians and shattering a month-long relative lull in violence. Gasa strip, Thursday, AFP