FACTBOX - Death of Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana

(Reuters) - Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana was killed by Israeli troops four months ago, while filming in the Gaza Strip. An Israeli army investigation, which was concluded this week, found that the troops' actions were justified.

Following are key facts established by Reuters:

-- Fadel Shana, 24, was killed by several darts, known as flechettes, which burst from a shell fired by an Israeli tank on April 16 about 5:30 p.m. The tank firing and shell bursting were the final images on tape before Shana's camera was destroyed.

-- Eight other civilians aged between 12 and 20 were killed, six of them aged under 16. At least seven other bystanders aged from 10 to 18 were also hit. None was armed or was a militant. Reuters soundman Wafa Abu Mizyed, 25, was wounded in the wrist.

-- Shana and Abu Mizyed were wearing blue body armour marked "PRESS" and stood next to a car bearing "TV" and "PRESS" signs in the middle of a country road some 100 metres southeast of Gaza's main highway. Two Merkava-4 main battle tanks stood on a ridge about 1.5 km (a mile) to the southeast, facing northwest.

-- In the preceding half hour, the Reuters crew had driven past a point 700 metres from the tanks, filmed the aftermath of an Israeli air strike that killed several children and returned by the same route. Shana stopped, set up his tripod and filmed a panorama of the area, including the tanks, for several minutes.

-- Twenty or more children, some on bicycles, were present between Shana and the main Gaza highway 100 metres behind him.

-- An Israeli observation drone was circling over the area.

-- A tank fired a flechette shell, typically containing 5,000 1.5-inch (3.75-mm) metal darts. Their purpose is to kill over an area 300 metres wide. In 2003, Israel's Supreme Court said that under IDF rules "use of the flechette is restricted to areas in which the danger to innocent civilians is not actual".