"We got close to the area and filmed, but we couldn't leave
because an (Israeli) tank was around 100 meters (yards) from
where we stood," Abdel-Rahman Abdullah, a freelance Palestinian
journalist who saw the night-time incident, told Reuters.
"We were very visible to the troops, with a white flag and
'TV' markings on our vests, but still the troops opened fire,
hitting James Miller," he said.
The Israeli army denied troops targeted Miller, saying
their operation was to uncover tunnels used by militants to
smuggle in weapons from nearby Egypt for a 31-month-old armed
uprising.
"Our forces found a tunnel at the house in question, when
an anti-tank missile was fired at them. They shot back at the
source of the attack," army spokesman Captain Jacob Dallal
said.
"James Miller was apparently hit during that exchange. The
Israeli military expresses sorrow at a civilian death, but it
must be stressed that a cameraman who knowingly enters a combat
zone, especially at night, endangers himself," Dallal said.
Rafah sees frequent Israeli incursions against the tunnels
-- eliciting gunfire from Palestinian militants protecting
them.
But Abdullah said there were no exchanges of fire on Friday
night. "We even called out to the Israeli troops in their
armored vehicles and could hear them talking inside, before
they started shooting," he said.
A spokesman for the British embassy in Tel Aviv said he was
aware of the incident but declined to give details.
Dozens of foreign journalists have been hurt while
reporting on the Palestinian uprising for independence in Gaza
and the West Bank, which erupted in September 2000.
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