AlJazeera correspondent in Gaza Samer Abudaqa killed in Israeli attack

Shafaa News / Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Samer Abudaqa has been killed and his colleague Wael Dahdouh was wounded in an Israeli attack in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

Cameraman Abudaqa and correspondent Dahdouh were reporting at Farhana school in Khan Younis when the attack hit them on Friday.

Rescue teams were unable to immediately reach Abudaqa and others at the site due to Israeli bombardment.

“Rescuers just managed to retrieve the cameraman Samer Abudaqa’s body,” a spokesperson for the media network said.

Dahdouh was hit by shrapnel on his upper arm, and managed to reach Nasser hospital where he was treated for minor injuries.

Witnesses said earlier there was heavy shelling in the area around the school.

Many Palestinians from the central and northern parts of Gaza have sought shelter in Khan Younis since the war began in October. Many have now been pushed further south towards the strip’s southernmost city of Rafah after Israel intensified its military operations in Khan Younis.

The attack comes amid violent clashes between Palestinian fighters and the Israeli army in locations across Gaza. Residents reported fighting in Shejaya, Sheikh Radwan, Zeitoun, Tuffah, and Beit Hanoun in north Gaza, east of Maghazi in central Gaza and in the centre and northern fringes of Khan Younis, according to the Reuters news service.

In late October, Wael Dahdouh lost four of his family members in an Israeli air raid.

(AlJazeera)