An Agence France-Presse photographer wounded at Deir Al-Balah

Reporters Without Borders has called on Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz, to hold an "impartial, swift and rigorous" investigation into the shooting of Agence France-Presse photographer Mahmoud Hams, 25, in the Gaza Strip on 5 May. The international press freedom organisation said it had recorded at least 58 incidents since September 2000 in which journalists have been shot and wounded while covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "In the overwhelming majority of cases Israeli shooting was to blame," it said in its letter to the defence minister. "In total, five journalists - two foreigners and three Palestinians - have been killed by the Israeli Defense Forces. It has refused for months to give the family or to publish the conclusions of an investigation ordered by the military prosecutor-general, Menahem Finkelstein, into the death of British cameraman James Miller on 2 May 2003 in the south of the Gaza Strip." "The Israeli Army does not take the presence of journalists on the ground sufficiently seriously and fails to do its utmost to protect them. Instructions given to soldiers in the field lack clarity. No steps have been taken following numerous incidents involving the army and journalists," Reporters Without Borders concluded, calling for an end to this state of affairs. Mahmoud Hams was shot in the left thigh while taking photos of young Palestinians throwing stones at soldiers, during an Israeli Army incursion into the central Gaza town of Deir Al-Balah. He was also injured by shrapnel in his right thigh and was being treated at Deir Al-Balah hospital. Late on 5 May doctors said his condition was stable. Eyewitnesses said the soldiers reacted to the stoning by opening fire in the direction of the demonstrators. These same witnesses said there had been no exchange of fire in the sector when Hams was injured. He was wearing a helmet and a flak jacket that clearly indicated he was a journalist. An Israeli Army spokesman told Agence France-Presse the same day that the army was trying to check reports, adding he could not say with any certainty at this stage that he was hit in firing by the army. He said that armed men often mingled with young stone-throwers. And that when terrorists open fire while mingling with the civilian population, it is very difficult to tell the difference.