Troops cleared of cameraman death

Shana was killed while filming clashes between militants and Israeli forces

An Israeli tank crew has been cleared of wrongdoing over the death of a Reuters cameraman in Gaza, Israel's senior military lawyer has said.

Fadel Shana, 24, and several bystanders died on 16 April when a shell was fired from a tank he was filming a mile away.

The Israeli soldiers were unable to see that he held a camera and was wearing a flak jacket marked "Press", the army lawyer said, and so had acted properly.

Reuters said the ruling put journalists at risk and was deeply disturbing.

In a statement, the news agency said the army's conclusion could effectively give soldiers a "free hand to kill" without being sure of the identity of their target.

Shana was reporting on clashes between militants and Israeli troops when he was killed in central Gaza. Footage recovered from his camera showed an Israeli tank opening fire several hundred metres away, before going blank at the moment the shell hit.

Deadly force

In a letter sent to Reuters, Israeli Brigadier-General Avihai Mendelbilt said the tank crew had been "unable to determine the identity of the object mounted on the tripod and positively identify it as an anti-tank missile, a mortar or a television camera".

The Israeli army found that its soldiers' decision to fire had been 'sound'

He said the troops had not been able to see that Shana's jacket and vehicle were marked "Press" and "TV" and that their suspicions had been heightened because he and his soundman were wearing body armour.

"In light of the reasonable conclusion reached by the tank crew and its superiors that the characters were hostile and were carrying an object most likely to be a weapon, the decision to fire at the targets... was sound," he concluded.

Brig-Gen Mendelbilt said Shana's death was "a tragedy" but no legal action against the crew was warranted.

The Foreign Press Association, which represents international news media working in Israel and the Palestinian territories, said it was dismayed by the findings.

The Israeli army had a "long line of cases clearing its soldier of deadly negligence", it said.

Reuters Editor-in-Chief David Schlesinger said: "I'm extremely disappointed that this report condones a disproportionate use of deadly force in a situation the army itself admitted had not been analysed clearly.

"They would appear to take the view that any raising of a camera into position could garner a deadly response."