Gaza journalists mourn Reuters colleague

GAZA (Reuters) - Journalists in the Gaza Strip held a memorial gathering for Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana on Wednesday, a week to the hour since he was killed by an Israeli tank shell while filming in the Palestinian enclave.

The international news agency has urged the Israeli army to explain why its soldiers fired a missile that sprayed Shana and a group of teenage bystanders with darts, killing the 24-year-old journalist and five other Palestinians.

The army has said it is investigating but expects it to be next week before it offers an explanation for the incident, captured in the moments before Shana's camera was destroyed.

The Jerusalem-based Foreign Press Association said in a statement on Wednesday: "The FPA wishes to express its profound concern over the lack of a full Israeli explanation.

"An immediate and full accounting of the occurrence from the IDF is ... necessary so that media organizations can take urgent action needed to ensure the future safety of our crews."

Shana was killed on a day of particularly bloody violence in the Gaza Strip. Israeli air and ground forces killed some 20 Palestinians, including children and other civilians, following the deaths of three Israeli soldiers in an ambush.

At the memorial event in Gaza, dozens of local journalists vowed to continue reporting in the territory. Speaking on behalf of colleagues from many media organizations, Reuters senior correspondent Nidal al-Mughrabi told the gathering:

"In the name of all journalists we promise you, Fadel, that we will not retreat and we will strive to convey the truth."

Fellow television reporters and photographers held their cameras aloft in a gesture of solidarity.

Reuters bureau chief for Israel and the Palestinian territories Alastair Macdonald said: "At just 24, Fadel had already established himself as one of the leading video journalists in the region.

"His bravery in covering conflict in the Gaza Strip was matched by a clear awareness of the need to avoid needless risk to himself and to others and by a vision of how to convey a clear account of events in images that were true to our goal of presenting news that is accurate, fast and free from bias."

Shana was a key member of the team that last month won a prestigious award from Britain's Royal Television Society for its coverage of the violence in Gaza last June.

He told an interviewer recently that nothing would stop him covering the news, except his death.

(Editing by Janet McBride)