Reporter wounded by shrapnel

JULY 30, 2006

Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz
ATTACKED

Yuval Azoulay, 29, a reporter for the Hebrew daily Haaretz, was injured by shrapnel from a Katyusha rocket that was fired by Hezbollah forces in Lebanon and landed in the northern Israeli border town of Kiryat Shmona.

Around 2 p.m., Azoulay and Haaretz photographer Tomer Appelbaum were reporting on the aftermath of a Kiryat Shmona resident whose home was destroyed by Hezbollah rocket attacks, when a Katyusha rocket hit 10 meters away from Azoulay, Appelbaum told Haaretz. Azoulay was wounded in his right hand, chest, and abdomen, Haaretz reported.

Azoulay was immediately transferred to the Kiryat Shmona emergency room and then taken to Seif Hospital in Safed, where he underwent surgery. He is in moderate and stable condition, according to the paper.

On July12, Hezbollah guerillas abducted two Israeli soldiers and killed another eight near the Lebanese-Israeli border, sparking an Israeli military offensive. Hezbollah fired hundreds of rockets into Israel in the ensuing weeks.