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Israeli strike killed ‘clearly identifiable’ reporter in Lebanon: UN probe
An Israeli tank killed Reuters reporter Issam Abdallah in Lebanon last year by firing two 120mm rounds at a group of “clearly identifiable journalists” in violation of international law, a United Nations investigation into the October 13 incident has found.
The investigation by the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), summarised in a report seen and reported by Reuters on Wednesday, said its personnel did not record any exchange of fire across the border between Israel and Lebanon for more than 40 minutes before the Israeli Merkava tank opened fire.
“The firing at civilians, in this instance clearly identifiable journalists, constitutes a violation of UNSCR 1701 (2006) and international law,” the UNIFIL report said, referring to the Security Council Resolution 1701.
The seven-page report dated February 27 said further: “It is assessed that there was no exchange of fire across the Blue Line at the time of the incident. The reason for the strikes on the journalists is not known.”
Under Resolution 1701, adopted in 2006 to bring an end to the war between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, UN peacekeepers were deployed to monitor a ceasefire along the 120km (75-mile) demarcation line, or Blue Line, between Israel and Lebanon.
As part of their mission, UN troops record violations of the ceasefire and investigate the most egregious cases.
Besides killing Abdallah, the two tank rounds also wounded six other journalists at the scene, including two from Al Jazeera.
Audio picked up by an Al Jazeera video camera at the scene showed the reporters also came under fire from 0.50 calibre rounds of the type used by the Browning machineguns that can be mounted on Israel’s Merkava tanks – likely from the same point as the tank, a report by the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) said last week.
The TNO report concluded that an Israeli tank crew “likely” opened machinegun fire on the group of journalists near the border with Lebanon who were also targeted by shelling. An earlier report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said the journalists were deliberately targeted, although it did not attribute responsibility to Israel.
Asked about the UNIFIL report, Israeli army spokesperson Nir Dinar said Hezbollah had attacked the army near the Israeli community of Hanita on October 13. It responded with artillery and tank fire to remove the threat and subsequently received a report that journalists had been injured.
“The IDF deplores any injury to uninvolved parties, and does not deliberately shoot at civilians, including journalists,” Dinar said, referring to the Israeli army. “The IDF considers the freedom of the press to be of utmost importance while clarifying that being in a war zone is dangerous.”
He said the General Staff’s Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism, which is responsible for reviewing exceptional events, will continue to examine the incident.
According to the army’s website, the fact-finding team submits its reviews to the Israeli military’s legal affairs department, which decides whether a case warrants a criminal investigation.
Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni has called on Israel to explain how the attack that killed Abdallah, 37, could have happened and to hold those responsible to account. Al Jazeera has also urged the Israeli government to disclose the findings of its own investigation, noting after the release of the TNO report that the “incident strongly indicates intentional targeting, as confirmed by investigations”.
The UNIFIL report was sent to the UN in New York on February 28 and has been shared with the Lebanese and Israeli militaries, two people familiar with the matter said.
“[The] IDF should conduct an investigation into the incident and a full review of their procedures at the time to avoid a recurrence,” the report said in its recommendations. “The IDF should share their investigation’s findings with UNIFIL.”
A UN spokesperson confirmed that the UNIFIL report had been shared with the parties.
“We reiterate that all actors should uphold their obligations under international law, and that civilians, including journalists, should never be a target. Journalists and media professionals must be protected,” the spokesperson said.
For its investigation, UNIFIL sent a team to the site on October 14, and also received contributions from the Lebanese armed forces and from an unnamed witness who was present on the hill when the strikes occurred, the report said.
Details of incidents in UNIFIL’s area of operations are included in regular reports by the UN secretary-general on the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701. UNIFIL’s investigations, however, are not usually made public, and Reuters was unable to determine if there would be any UN follow-up.
UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said he was not in a position to discuss the investigation.
UNIFIL’s findings lend further support to a Reuters investigation published on December 7 that showed that seven journalists from the AFP news agency, Al Jazeera and Reuters, were hit by two 120mm rounds fired by a tank 1.34km (0.8 miles) away in Israel.
The group of reporters had been filming cross-border shelling from a distance in an open area on a hill near the Lebanese village of Alma ash-Shaab for nearly an hour before the attack.
The day afterwards, the Israeli army said it already had visuals of the incident and it was being investigated. The army has not published a report of its findings to date.
UNIFIL said in its report that it sent a letter and a questionnaire to the Israeli army requesting its assistance. The Israeli army replied, but did not answer the questionnaire.
Reuters said it had not seen a copy of the Israeli army’s letter, the content of which was summarised in the UNIFIL report.
Israel’s war on Gaza is one of the deadliest on record for journalists, with more reporters killed in the first 10 weeks following the October 7 Hamas attacks than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Al Jazeera cameraperson Samer Abudaqa was killed by an Israeli strike on December 15 while reporting at the Farhana school in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. He was left to bleed to death as emergency workers were blocked by the Israeli military from reaching the site.
As of Wednesday, at least 95 journalists and media workers – most of them Palestinian – have been killed since the start of the war on Gaza on October 7, according to the CPJ’s preliminary investigations.
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English police are facing mounting scrutiny after officers handcuffed an 18-year-old university student as he bled to death following a fatal stabbing, allegedly after believing the attacker’s false claim that he had been the victim of a racist assault.
The case has sparked outrage across Britain, fueled political debate over policing and prompted calls for the release of body-worn camera footage from the responding officers.
Alan Mendoza, executive director and co-founder of the London-based Henry Jackson Society think tank, told Fox News Digital that the case reflected broader failures in British policing culture. “The killing of Henry Nowak shows how far the rot of political correctness has set into the British policing mentality,” Mendoza said.
“The reflex attitude today appears to be to believe any and every claim that mentions racism,” he added. “It clearly trumped actual murder in this case as a dying Mr. Nowak was arrested on the say-so of his Sikh assailant without any facts being established by the officers attending.”
BRITISH POLICE RELEASE DETAILS ON SUSPECTS AFTER ‘SHOCKING’ TRAIN ATTACK, UPDATE ON VICTIMS
Freshman student Henry Nowak was stabbed many times by Vikram Digwa who used an eight inch ceremonial knife in December 2025. Digwa was found guilty of murder last week. (Hampshire police handout.)
Vickrum Digwa, 23, was convicted Thursday at Southampton Crown Court of murdering Henry Nowak, an 18-year-old finance student at the University of Southampton, during a confrontation on Dec. 3, 2025.
Officers arriving at the chaotic scene initially treated Nowak as the suspect after Digwa allegedly claimed he had been racially abused and attacked. Officers handcuffed Nowak before realizing the severity of his injuries. He later collapsed and died at the scene despite attempts to administer first aid, according to Sky News.
Following the verdict, Hampshire Constabulary publicly apologized and referred the case to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), England and Wales’ police watchdog, for investigation. “I’m sorry that he was handcuffed and arrested in the moments before he lost consciousness,” Temporary Deputy Chief Constable Robert France said in a statement reported by Sky News.
Prosecutors told jurors Digwa stabbed Nowak multiple times using a 21-centimeter blade described in court as a Sikh kirpan-style weapon. Digwa claimed he acted in self-defense after being racially abused, but jurors rejected that argument and found him guilty of murder.
The case has since ignited fierce public debate online and in British media over whether police prioritized allegations of racism over basic investigative and medical procedures.
TEXAS PRESS CONFERENCE IN AUSTIN METCALF KILLING DEVOLVES INTO CHAOS OVER TRACK MEET STABBING
Handout photo issued by Hampshire Police of Vickrum Digwa who has been found guilty at Southampton Crown Court of the murder of university student Henry Nowak, who he stabbed to death with a Sikh kirpan ceremonial knife. Digwa told police a “wicked lie” that he was the victim of a racist attack after he stabbed finance student Henry Nowak, from Chafford Hundred, Essex, five times in the incident in Belmont Road, Southampton, on Dec. 3 2025. Issue date: Thursday, May 28, 2026. (Press Association via AP Images)
Speaking on GB News on Friday, Reform UK Member of Parliament Robert Jenrick called for the release of body-worn camera footage if the Nowak family consents.
“The officers chose to prioritize the accusation of racial abuse over saving the life of this young man,” Jenrick said. “I think that was a terrible mistake.”
Jenrick also criticized what he described as a muted response from Britain’s political establishment compared to reactions following the 2020 death of George Floyd in the United States.
“The Prime Minister says absolutely nothing. The Home Secretary says absolutely nothing.”
The killing has also raised concerns about hostility toward Britain’s Sikh community, which Sikh organizations have sought to distance from the crime.
In a public statement issued following the verdict, Sikh community organizations condemned the killing and stressed that the case should not be viewed as representative of Sikhism.
2 JEWISH MEN STABBED IN LONDON ATTACK CLASSIFIED AS TERRORISM
File of a police car in Derbyshire, England. (Derbyshire Constabulary via Facebook)
“Henry’s life has tragically been cut short by a moment of madness by an individual for which there can be no excuses,” the statement said.
The organizations also acknowledged that “the actions of police officers who handcuffed the victim just before he died” had intensified criticism of police and “unnecessarily stirred up community hatred.”
The statement further emphasized that legal protections allowing Sikhs in Britain to carry ceremonial kirpans for religious purposes do not apply if the blade is used violently.
“We understand in this case the weapon that may have been used was not the normal Kirpan worn by fully practicing Sikhs,” the statement read.
Mendoza stressed that Britain’s Sikh community broadly condemned the murder and supported the investigation.
“It’s legal for Sikhs to carry ceremonial knives in the U.K. but they are almost always tiny ones that religious authorities have ordained are sufficient to fulfil the obligation,” Mendoza told Fox News Digital. “He had one of those, plus his [8 inch] blade.”
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A member of the London Met Police stands guard outside Westminster Abbey. (BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images)
He also described Digwa as “a weapons nut,” referencing evidence presented during the trial that prosecutors said showed the defendant had a fascination with knives and weapons.
The IOPC investigation into the officers’ actions remains ongoing. Fox News Digital reached out to Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary for comment but did not receive a response before publication.
Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi accuses China of lacking military transparency and stresses the importance of dialogue for regional stability.
Published On 31 May 2026
Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has dismissed claims that Tokyo is pursuing “new militarism” and accused China of rapidly expanding its military with limited transparency.
China continues to increase its defence spending at a high level, Koizumi said on Sunday at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
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“China’s external approach and military activities are matters of serious concern for Japan and the international community at the same time,” he added.
“Think about it. There’s a country that has a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons and strategic bombers. Japan has neither of such weapons, and yet Japan is labelled ‘new militarism’?”
Koizumi said Japan’s record since World War II “speaks for itself”, citing its adherence to international law and commitment to the United Nations Charter alongside efforts to uphold a “free and open international order”.
In May, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on Asia Pacific countries to be vigilant and “jointly resist the reckless actions of Japan’s neo-militarism”.
At the Singapore forum, Chinese delegate Major General Meng Xiangqing criticised Japan.
“I deeply doubt whether a country that has not thoroughly eradicated the toxic legacy of militarism is qualified to talk extensively about defence cooperation on international occasions and whether it can win the trust of the international community, especially the Asian countries it once invaded,” he said.
Ties between Japan and China sank to their worst level in years after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi warned in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could draw a Japanese military response.
China claims Taiwan as its own territory over the objections of the island’s government.
Koizumi said transparency comes from “discussion and dialogue” and lamented that China had not sent its defence minister to the conference, but he insisted Japan remains open to engagement.
“We keep the door open,” he said, reaffirming Japan’s commitment to dialogue with China and other regional players to foster stability.
As China has been rapidly expanding and modernising its military, Japan has been reshaping its own defence policy. Last month, Takaichi’s cabinet scrapped a ban on lethal weapons exports, a major change in its post-war pacifist policy.
Japan pushes for unity
Separately on Sunday, Koizumi praised US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for his commitment to the Asia Pacific but at the same time stressed the continued need for strong coalitions globally.
“Division weakens deterrence. Unity strengthens deterrence,” he told the conference in Singapore.
“If gaps emerge among the United States, Europe and allies and like-minded countries, forces which take it as an opportunity will surely come in,” he said.
“We must prevent such a situation. We must keep our cooperation going on. Now is the time to make our cooperation even stronger.”
US President Donald Trump has been harsh about fellow members in NATO, and the comments at the Shangri-La conference came the day after Hegseth again chided Western European allies at the forum for not devoting enough resources to defence.
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