201 journalists killed in Gaza as Israel faces accusations of targeting media
Shafaq News/ The death toll of journalists killed in Gaza since the onset of the war in October 2023 surpassed 200.
On Thursday, the Gaza Government Media Office said, in a press release, “The number of journalist martyrs has increased to 201, following the announcement of the deaths of a group of journalists working for Al-Quds Al-Youm TV channel.”
Footage from the scene showed the van engulfed in flames, with civil defense teams working to extinguish the fire and recover the bodies.
The office stated that five were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting the channel's outside broadcast vehicle in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza early Thursday morning.
This is the vehicle that was targeted by Israeli warplanes in front of Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip where five Palestinian journalists were inside. pic.twitter.com/ARToPBahsW
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) December 26, 2024
The victims are Faisal Abu Al-Qomsan, a reporter; Ayman Al-Jiddi, a cameraman; Ibrahim Sheikh Ali, a journalist; Mohammad Al-Ladaa, a journalist; and Fadi Hassouna, also a journalist. All were wearing vests marked with the word “PRESS” in large letters.
The statement condemned the killings, describing them as “deliberate assassinations of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli occupation.”
The media office called on international organizations, including the International Federation of Journalists and the Arab Journalists Union, to “condemn these systematic crimes against Palestinian journalists and media personnel in Gaza.” It further accused Israel, along with the United States and its allies, including the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, of bearing full responsibility for what it labeled “a heinous and brutal crime.”
The statement urged the global community, international organizations, and press advocacy groups to denounce these acts, press for an end to the ongoing violence, and hold Israel accountable in international courts.
Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 45,400, the majority of them women and children.
