Israeli police hold BBC journalists at gunpoint in Tel Aviv despite clear ID
Two BBC journalists, Muhannad Tutunji and Haitham Abudiab, along with their BBC Arabic team, were stopped and “assaulted” by Israeli police while covering the Israel-Gaza conflict in Tel Aviv.
Despite clearly identifying themselves as BBC journalists and providing their press ID cards, Tutunji and Abudiab were taken out of their vehicle, which was marked with “TV” in red tape.
They were searched and pushed against a wall. Tutunji’s attempt to film the incident was thwarted when his phone was thrown on the ground, and he was struck on the neck.
A BBC spokesperson said: “One of our BBC News Arabic teams deployed in Tel Aviv, in a vehicle clearly marked as media, was stopped and assaulted last night by Israeli police. Journalists must be able to report on the conflict in Israel-Gaza freely.”
On Friday, a Reuters journalist was killed on the Lebanon-Israel border after a rocket hit his crew providing live streaming for the news agency.
READ MORE: France declares emergency alert for entire nation as imminent attack feared
The horrific scene played out on a live internet feed – and footage of the moment has been shared on social media. In the disturbing clip, a woman – working for Reuters – can be heard screaming before saying “I can’t feel my legs”.
In a statement, Reuters wrote: “We are deeply saddened to learn that our videographer, Issam Abdallah, has been killed.
“Issam was part of a Reuters crew in southern Lebanon who was providing a live signal.
“Our thoughts are with their families at this terrible time.”
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The incident came after the terrorist group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on Saturday killing at least 1,300 people.
More than 1,400 people have since been killed in Gaza by Israeli forces.
Israel told 1.1 million people living in the Gaza Strip to evacuate their territory within 24 hours or face a devastating retaliating attack.
Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, told civilians to ignore the order branding it “fake propaganda”.
The United Nations (UN) is also urging Israel to withdraw the order.
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