An Israeli airstrike killed three journalists in Gaza on Wednesday, the territory’s civil defense agency said. One of those killed, Abed Shaat, had been a cameraman for CBS News and other outlets for years.
Officials identified the two other slain journalists as Mohammed Salah Qashta and Anas Ghneim, the Agence France-Presse news agency reported. Shaat also contributed regularly to the AFP, but the agency said there was no assignment for them at the time.
Civil Defense officials said the three were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Al-Zahra area, southwest of Gaza City.
The Israel Defense Forces released a statement saying the troops “identified several suspects operating a Hamas-affiliated drone in the Central Gaza Strip, posing a threat to their security,” and then “hit the suspects who activated the drone.” The IDF said it is reviewing the details of the incident.
According to a witness, the journalists were using a drone to take pictures of the Egyptian Aid Committee’s aid distribution in the Gaza Strip when a strike hit a vehicle they were traveling with, AFP reported.
The Egyptian aid group confirmed that one of its vehicles was targeted by Israel in an attack that killed three people.
Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images 
“An Egyptian Committee vehicle was targeted during a humanitarian mission, resulting in the martyrdom of three people,” said Mohammed Mansour, spokesman for the Egyptian Aid Committee in the Gaza Strip, adding that all the group’s vehicles “carry the committee’s logo.”
“The Israeli army criminally targeted this vehicle” when the individuals were filming the Netzarim camp, Mansour said.
Abed Shaat was a regular on CBS News from the city of Khan Yunis during the Gaza war, even sending video from the back of an ambulance when he was injured.
He was 30 years old and got married just two weeks ago.
In an email to CBS News staff on Wednesday, colleagues in London remembered Shaat as a “courageous journalist” who was “well-loved by all who knew or worked with him.”
“His work was distinguished by his technical skill in unimaginable situations,” said CBS News London producer Kamal Afzali. Shaat “witnessed extreme pain with superhuman power to document it.”
After the ceasefire took effect in October, Shaat went to work with the Egyptian Humanitarian Committee in the Gaza Strip, where he was responsible for photographing all humanitarian activities and relief operations on behalf of the committee.
The Palestinian Journalists’ Union condemned the strike as part of a “systematic and deliberate policy of the Israeli occupation to target Palestinian journalists”.
Israeli forces have killed at least 466 Palestinians in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, according to the Hamas-run territory’s Health Ministry.
The Israeli army said the militants killed three soldiers at once.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said eight more Palestinians were also killed in Israeli attacks on the territory on Wednesday, one of the deadliest days since the ceasefire began, the Associated Press reported.