TWO more Palestinian journalists lost their lives in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, bringing the number of journalists killed in the violence since Oct. 7 to 109.

According to an official statement, the victims were identified as Hamza Wael Al-Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera Gaza bureau chief Wael Al-Dahdouh, and Mustafa Thuraya. Hamza was a correspondent for Al Jazeera, while Mustafa was working with AFP. Both lost their lives in an Israeli airstrike targeting their car in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.

The two journalists were on their way to Al Mawasi, a safer area towards the southwest where their vehicle was hit by the missile, as reported by Al Jazeera. A third journalist travelling with them, Hazem Rajab, was seriously injured.

Hamza was 27 years old, while Mustafa was in his thirties.

Al Jazeera strongly condemns killings, says it was a ‘deliberate attack

Mustafa had worked with AFP since 2019 and had also worked with other international media outlets.

The two of them had been tasked with filming the aftermath of a strike on a house in Rafah and their car was hit while they were on their way back, AFP correspondents said.

“Hamza was everything for me ... while we are full of humanity they (Israel) are full of murder and hatred,” Wael said on Al Jazeera television.

Footage showed him in tears as he hugged his son’s body at a hospital, surrounded by other journalists and relatives.

“The world should see with two eyes, not with an Israeli eye. They should see everything happening to the Palestinian people,” he added..

“What did Hamza do to them (Israelis)? What did my family do to them? What did the civilians do to them? They did nothing to them, but the world closes its eyes to what’s happening in the Gaza Strip.”“We are in shock,” Christophe Deloire of the media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders wrote Sunday on X, formerly Twitter, calling the situation a “never-ending slaughter”.

Perpetual losses

In a press release, the Palestinian government’s media office strongly condemned the “heinous crime” perpetrated by the “Israeli occupation army against journalists.”“Israel aims to intimidate journalists in a failed attempt to obscure the truth and prevent media coverage,” the press release said as reported by Andalou Agency.

Al-Jazeera Media Network condemned the killing of the two journalists and said it had been a deliberate attack.

“We urge the International Criminal Court, the governments and human rights organisations, and the United Nations (UN) to hold Israel accountable for its heinous crimes and demand an end to the targeting and killing of journalists,” the network said in a statement.

Previously, Wael lost his wife, his son who was younger than Hamza, daughter and grandson to Israeli aggression at the end of October. He was in the middle of live reporting where he got the call from the hospital.

Then in mid-December, he was badly injured in an attack which also killed his workmate Samer Abudaqa.

The number of journalists who have either lost family members or passed away themselves continues to increase.

In December, Anas al-Sharif lost his father in an Israeli air raid that targeted his family’s residence in Jabalia.

Just a few days earlier, on December 6, Moamen Al Sharafi, a correspondent for Al Jazeera Arabic, witnessed the tragic death of 22 members of his family when an Israeli attack struck the house where they were taking shelter in the Jabalia refugee camp.

In late October, broadcast engineer Mohamed Abu Al-Qumsan faced the devastating loss of 19 family members, including his father and two sisters, during Israeli air raids on the same refugee camp. Earlier, Issam Abdullah, a journalist for Reuters was killed by an Israeli tank on October 13.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2024