An Al Jazeera cameraman was killed and the community’s Arabic-language Gaza Strip bureau chief was wounded on Friday throughout an assault in southern Gaza, Al Jazeera mentioned, the newest in a protracted string of journalist casualties within the struggle.
The cameraman, Samer Abu Daqqa, and Wael al-Dahdouh, the bureau chief, have been protecting the aftermath of airstrikes at a U.N. school-turned-shelter in Khan Younis when each have been wounded, the community mentioned. Mr. al-Dahdouh advised Al Jazeera that he was in a position to stroll out of the world and search assist, however Mr. Abu Daqqa died from his accidents, the community mentioned.
In October, Mr. al-Dahdouh’s spouse, son, daughter and toddler grandson have been killed on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, the place they’d been sheltering.
Mohamed Moawad, Al Jazeera’s managing editor, described Mr. Abu Daqqa as “a compassionate soul” whose images “captured the uncooked and unfiltered actuality and life in Gaza.”
“Within the pursuit of reality, our cameraman confronted immense dangers to convey viewers a deeper understanding of the human expertise in Gaza,” he mentioned in a publish on social media. “His lens turned a window into the lives of these affected by battle, shedding mild on tales that wanted to be advised.”
In response to the Committee to Shield Journalists, a nonprofit group based mostly in New York that defends the rights of journalists world wide, 64 journalists and media employees have been killed in Gaza because the struggle between Israel and Hamas started on Oct. 7, greater than in every other related time period because the group began accumulating information in 1992.
The C.P.J. defines journalists as “individuals who cowl information or touch upon public affairs by way of print, digital, broadcast media and different means,” and media employees as important help workers, together with translators, drivers and fixers. The group has mentioned it doesn’t embrace folks in its tallies if there’s proof of their “performing on behalf of militant teams or serving in a army capability on the time of their deaths.”
In response to the C.P.J.’s information, a number of the 64 killed in Gaza have been freelancers and didn’t work for conventional information shops, and its web site famous that it was unclear whether or not all of them have been protecting the battle on the time of their deaths. Israel and Egypt have largely prevented worldwide journalists from getting into the enclave because the battle started; Hamas, which controls Gaza, has lengthy restricted what the information media there can cowl.
Carlos Martínez de la Serna, C.P.J.’s program director, mentioned the group was involved about “the sample of assaults on Al Jazeera journalists and their households.”
In an announcement, Al Jazeera blamed Israel for Friday’s assault in Khan Younis and for “systematically concentrating on and killing Al Jazeera journalists and their households.” It urged “the worldwide group, media freedom organizations, and the Worldwide Legal Courtroom to take fast motion to carry the Israeli authorities and army accountable.”
The Israeli army didn’t instantly reply to the accusations. Khan Younis is considered one of three areas that Israel has mentioned it’s concentrating on in its battle to eradicate Hamas from Gaza.
John Kirby, a White Home spokesman, mentioned he was not conscious of any proof that Israel was deliberately concentrating on journalists, who he mentioned have to be protected.
“It’s by no means acceptable to intentionally goal them, as they do such important, harmful, harmful work,” he mentioned, including, “That’s a precept that we’re going to proceed to abide by.”
Worldwide watchdogs have mentioned that an Israeli strike on Oct. 13 that killed a videographer for the Reuters information company and injured six different journalists was a focused assault carried out by the Israeli army. Earlier this yr, a C.P.J. report discovered that nobody had been held accountable for practically 20 journalists killed by the Israeli army since 2001.
Katie Rogers contributed reporting.
