A report by the American website The Intercept confirmed that the Israeli occupation targeted the Tel Aviv Tribune crew in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip on December 15, and prevented efforts to evacuate photographer Samer Abu Daqqa, who was martyred in the Israeli strike.
The report stated that a large group of journalists contacted the Israeli authorities and were able to locate Abu Daqqa, who continued to bleed to death for 5 hours, and that the Israeli army confirmed that it was aware of the situation.
The report quotes informed sources and conversations of several journalists in WhatsApp groups that humanitarian organizations and journalists repeatedly pressured the Israeli army for hours to facilitate the evacuation process to no avail.
The Intercept says that Israel did not allow safe passage for emergency crews for hours despite knowing that the journalist was injured and in dire need of help, and that the Israeli army knew that a journalist from Tel Aviv Tribune was lying helpless, yet it did not allow ambulance teams safe access to him until after he died.
The American website confirms that a lot of evidence indicates that the Israeli attacks were targeting Tel Aviv Tribune journalists, and it quotes Al-Dahdouh that there was no one else there and that there is no room for error in the targeting.
As for Tel Aviv Tribune’s Ramallah bureau chief, Walid Al-Omari, he told The Intercept that he first contacted the International Committee of the Red Cross and asked them to contact the Israeli army to facilitate rescue efforts for Samer Abu Daqqa.
Al-Dahdouh told the website that holding the killer accountable is the least that can be done so that he does not escape punishment every time, which will lead to continued targeting and attacks on journalists.
He added that targeting and destroying offices such as the Tel Aviv Tribune office, targeting journalists’ families such as his family, and targeting homes such as his home, which was destroyed and no homes around it, is because they know that it is the home of the Tel Aviv Tribune office director, and it is clear that all of this is happening in the context of pressure and punishment from the army, and “but as I always say Despite all the hurt and pain, we will continue to carry this message, do our duty, and transmit news and pictures to our viewers around the world.”
Details of the attack
On the evening of the fifteenth of last month, the Tel Aviv Tribune crew went to cover a bombing that targeted the Farhana School in Khan Yunis, but as soon as the team finished filming, they were surprised by the Israeli bombing.
Al-Dahdouh says, “It was as if a storm had targeted us.” He added, “I lost my balance to the point that I lost consciousness slightly until I regained my strength. I tried to get up in any way I could because I was sure that another missile would target us. From our experience, this is what usually happens.”
Dahdouh realized that he was bleeding profusely from his arm, and that if he did not get medical care, he would die. He also temporarily lost a large part of his hearing due to the explosion.
He looked up and saw that the three civil defense workers who were accompanying the journalists had been killed, then he saw Abu Daqqa lying on the ground some distance away.
Then Al-Dahdouh was able, as he says, to reach the ambulance hundreds of meters away, after he felt that he would not be able to provide assistance to his colleague Abu Daqqa, who had been injured in the lower part of his body, making him unable to move.
Hours passed, but emergency workers were unable to reach him without the approval of the Israeli army.
Al-Dahdouh said he later learned from his colleagues that early in the ordeal, when the ambulances initially approached the area to reach Abu Daqqa, Israeli forces opened fire close to them, forcing them to turn back and wait for the Israeli army’s approval to enter.
As part of the efforts to rescue Abu Daqqa, Orly Halpern, a freelance reporter and producer based in Jerusalem, learned what had happened when an acquaintance sent her a link to the story, so she decided to post this topic on a WhatsApp group that includes more than 140 journalists from the Foreign Press Association (FBA). A Jerusalem-based non-profit organization representing reporters from more than 30 countries.
Halpern published contact information with the Israeli military in groups to communicate with them and put pressure on them from more than one person, and she obtained assurances from the army that it was aware of what happened.
After it was too late, the Palestinian emergency crews were finally able to reach the school after a bulldozer operated by Palestinians opened the way for an ambulance to find Abu Daqqa dead.
At 7:55 p.m., Halpern posted a message in the group chat she received from her producer in Gaza that he had been killed.
Tel Aviv Tribune reported that Abu Daqqa was subjected to continuous bombardment while trying to crawl to safety.
The Intercept quotes Al-Dahdouh and Halpern as saying that they received reports that Abu Daqqa was found without his bullet-proof vest, several meters away from where he was wounded.
Several parties, including the Foreign Press Association, demanded an investigation into the incident, and Tel Aviv Tribune announced the next day that it was preparing a legal file to submit to the International Criminal Court regarding what it called the assassination of Abu Daqqa at the hands of Israeli forces in Gaza.
Reporters Without Borders also included Abu Daqqa in the war crimes complaint the group filed with the International Criminal Court in connection with the killings of seven Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza between October 22 and December 15.
The Committee to Protect Journalists found that the number of journalists killed in the first ten weeks of the Israeli war on Gaza – almost all of them Palestinians – exceeds the number of journalists killed in one country over the course of an entire year. Many of the journalists still alive in Gaza have lost family members and homes.