Al Jazeera cameraman killed, journalist injured in Gaza missile strike
An Al Jazeera journalist was killed while another was wounded on Friday by a missile fired from a drone in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, the broadcaster reported.
Cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa was injured along with a colleague while covering the bombing of a school, Al Jazeera said in an earlier statement.
Rescuers were unable to reach Abu Daqqa to take him for treatment.
The rescuers just managed to retrieve the cameraman’s body, a spokesperson said.
Al Jazeera said the journalists were hit by a missile fired from a drone in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
The outlet’s managing editor Mohamed Moawad lauded the deceased for his work ethic and commitment to journalism.
He had earlier appealed to the global journalistic community, the International Committee of the Red Cross and humanitarian organisations to swiftly coordinate Abu Daqqa’s evacuation.
The outlet said Wael al-Dahdouh was injured in his hand and was being treated.
Dahdouh, the Arabic broadcaster’s Gaza correspondent, is particularly well known to viewers across the Middle East after learning last month during an emotional live broadcast that his wife, son, daughter and grandson were killed in an Israeli air strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp.
“The Al Jazeera Media Network extends its sincere condolences and sympathy to our colleague Wael Al-Dahdouh on the loss of his family in an Israeli airstrike,” the outlet had said.
“The indiscriminate assault by the Israeli occupation forces resulted in the tragic loss of his wife, son and daughter, while the rest of his family is buried under the rubble.”
In images and footage run by Al Jazeera and shared on social media, Al-Dahdouh was shown mourning over the bodies of his wife and children at a hospital in Deir el-Balah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Al-Dahdouh spoke to Al Jazeera on his way out of the hospital: “What happened is clear. This is a series of targeted attacks on children, women and civilians. I was just reporting from Yarmouk about such an attack, and the Israeli raids have targeted many areas, including Nuseirat.
“We had our doubts that the Israeli occupation would not let these people go without punishing them. And sadly, that is what happened. This is the ‘safe’ area that the occupation army spoke of.”
Al Jazeera had said the family were staying in a temporary home after evacuating Gaza City following Israel’s warning for residents to move south as its forces intensified strikes in Gaza.
“This is the safe zone the occupation (Israeli) army was talking about,” Al-Dahdouh had said on Al Jazeera.
The media organisation had said that “their home was targeted in the Nuseirat camp in the centre of Gaza, where they had sought refuge after being displaced by the initial bombardment in their neighbourhood.”
“Al Jazeera is deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of our colleagues in Gaza and hold the Israeli authorities responsible for their security,” it had added.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a total of 63 journalists and media workers have been verified as deceased so far in the Gaza Strip: 56 Palestinian, four Israeli, and three Lebanese.
Additionally, there are reports that 11 journalists have sustained injuries, three have been declared missing, and 19 journalists have been reported as arrested. The incidents include multiple assaults, threats, cyber-attacks, censorship and the killings of family members.