An apparent Israeli air strike killed two Palestinian journalists in southern Gaza on Sunday, including the son of veteran Al Jazeera correspondent Wael Dahdouh, who lost his wife, two other children and a grandson – and was nearly killed himself – earlier in the war.
Dahdouh has continued to report on the fighting between Israel and Hamas even as it has taken a devastating toll on his own family, becoming a symbol for many of the perils faced by Palestinian journalists, dozens of whom have been killed while covering the conflict.
Hamza Dahdouh, who was also working for Al Jazeera, and Mustafa Tharaya, a freelance journalist, were killed when a strike hit their car while they were driving to an assignment in southern Gaza, according to Al Jazeera. A third journalist, Hazem Rajab, was seriously wounded, it said.
Amer Abu Amr, a photojournalist, said in a Facebook post that he and another journalist, Ahmed al-Bursh, survived the strike.
The Israeli army told Agence France-Presse that it had “struck a terrorist who operated an aircraft that posed a threat to IDF troops”, adding that it was “aware of the reports that during the strike, two other suspects who were in the same vehicle as the terrorist were also hit”.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the journalists’ deaths were an “unimaginable tragedy”.
“And that’s also been the case for … far too many innocent Palestinian men, women and children,” he said in Doha during a regional tour.
Israel army says Hamas command structure ‘dismantled’ in north Gaza
Israel army says Hamas command structure ‘dismantled’ in north Gaza
Wael Dahdouh, 53, has been the face of al Jazeera’s 24-hour coverage of this war and previous rounds of fighting for millions of Arabic-speaking viewers across the region, nearly always appearing on air in the blue helmet and flak jacket worn to identify journalists in the Palestinian territories.
Speaking to Al Jazeera after his son’s burial, Dahdouh vowed to continue reporting on the war.
“The whole world must look at what is happening here in the Gaza Strip,” he said. “What is happening is a great injustice to defenceless people, civilian people. It is also unfair for us as journalists.”
In a statement, Al Jazeera accused Israel of deliberately targeting the reporters and condemned the “ongoing crimes committed by the Israeli occupation forces against journalists and media professionals in Gaza”. It also vowed to take “all legal measures to prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes”.
Dahdouh was reporting on the offensive in late October when he received word that his wife, daughter and another son had been killed in an Israeli air strike. His grandson, wounded in the same strike, died hours later.
The Qatar-based broadcaster later aired footage of him weeping over the body of his son while still wearing his blue press vest.
In December, an Israeli strike on a school in Khan Younis wounded Dahdouh and Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa. Dahdouh was able to run for help, but Abu Daqqa bled to death hours later as ambulances were unable to reach him because of blocked roads, according to Al Jazeera.
Earlier in December, a strike killed the father, mother and 20 other family members of another Al Jazeera correspondent, Momen Al Sharafi.
As journalists die in Gaza, West worries about our press freedom
As journalists die in Gaza, West worries about our press freedom
The Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 70 Palestinian reporters, as well as four Israeli and three Lebanese reporters, have been killed since Hamas’ October 7 attack triggered the war in Gaza and an escalation in fighting along Israel’s border with Lebanon.
Israel denies targeting journalists and says it makes every effort to avoid harming civilians, blaming the high death toll on the fact that Hamas fights in densely populated urban areas.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse