You are correct Kevin. But in a war situation such as we have just seen in Jenine(?) it is reasonable to assume -and indeed reports bear out- that non-combatant civilians will keep under cover. Therefore it also seems reasonable to assume that anyone moving around must be considered an enemy.
Journalists and "observers" don't do their jobs sitting in a hole behind the lines and in a house-to-house fight such as was fought in Nablus and Jenine it's hard enough to keep track of your own men sometimes, never mind some civvie who "just wants a closer look."
The Israeli troops had trouble enough deciding who was an armed enemy and who was not. They certainly didn't need a covey of self-important civilians getting in the way. And if you think that war correspondents and the like don't have inflated ideas about their importance and invunerability, you haven't ever had to deal with them.

troll