Kavitha Chikuru, a journalist specializing in covering human rights and security issues, reported in a report to The Intercept website the testimonies of acquaintances of 5 journalists who were targeted by the Israeli occupation army last week as part of its systematic attack on journalists in the Gaza Strip, which continued without interruption over the past year.
The website stated that 175 journalists were killed as a result, in what the Committee to Protect Journalists described as the highest toll it has documented in one year since it began recording cases of journalist killings in 1992. An analysis conducted by the website in cooperation with the “Journalists for Investigative Journalism” organization also found that the army The Israeli army killed one out of every 10 journalists in Gaza.
Photojournalist Fadi Al-Wahidi
The report said that the attack led to the death of two journalists and the injury of three, beginning its report with the occupation army targeting last Wednesday the Tel Aviv Tribune channel crew while covering the events in the Jabalia camp, where the channel’s cameraman, Fadi Al-Wahidi, was shot in the neck, leaving him completely paralyzed.
The report likened the scene of Fadi’s body on the side of the road to what happened with journalist Sherine Abu Aqla, who was assassinated by an Israeli sniper in 2022 while covering an Israeli attack on Jenin.
Journalist Hossam Shabat, who was with Fadi when he was injured, confirmed that there was a clear targeting of Tel Aviv Tribune journalists. Shabat described his colleague to the website as “a diligent journalist who is serious about his work,” as he “continued to cover the events despite the martyrdom of many of his friends and relatives.”
Shubat stated that “every time Fadi witnessed the paramedics recovering the remains of the martyrs, his eyes filled with tears because he was not only a journalist, but he was a human being as well.”
The martyr photojournalist Muhammad Al-Tanani and the correspondent Tamer Labad
On the same day that Fadi was injured, an Israeli plane targeted the crew of the local Palestinian Al-Aqsa TV channel while working in the Jabalia camp, where its cameraman, Muhammad al-Tanani, was martyred and its correspondent, Tamer Labad, was injured. The report included paramedics from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society saying that they were attacked 4 times while trying to reach the journalists. .
Tel Aviv Tribune English correspondent Ibrahim Al-Khalili told the site while remembering his friend and colleague, “Al-Tanani was a dedicated and loyal journalist, and he worked from the first day of the war to cover the atrocities of the occupation army, the continuous bombing, and the army’s ground incursions into northern Gaza.” He continued, “I always turned to Muhammad.” “Asking for advice, our hearts are breaking for his loss. We miss him…we miss him so much.”
Al-Khalili added, “We journalists in Gaza feel that we are being targeted by the occupation, even though all we are doing is revealing what is happening on the ground and showing the truth to the world.”
Martyr journalist Hamad Hassan
Last Sunday, the occupation army also targeted 19-year-old journalist Hamad Hassan with a strike on his home in Jabalia, and his family received his body parts in a cardboard box wrapped in a plastic bag, according to the report.
According to his colleagues, Hamad received threats on WhatsApp before the bombing, and Ashraf Mashwari of Media Town Productions, where Hamad worked, told The Intercept, “One message threatened him that if he did not stop spreading lies against Israel, he and his family would face the consequences.”
Mashwari said that Hamad was a quick learner despite his young age, and he was dedicated to his work. He also “was clearly aware of his journalistic responsibilities, and he reported many important news from the northern Gaza Strip.”
Journalist Ali Al-Attar
Ali Al-Attar, Al-Jazeera cameraman, is still lying in Gaza’s European Hospital as a result of being hit in the head by missile fragments after an Israeli bombing last Monday that targeted displaced people inside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah.
The report conveyed Tel Aviv Tribune’s emphasis on the necessity of Al-Attar traveling for treatment abroad due to his critical health condition, especially since the Israeli attacks on Gaza’s hospitals destroyed the health sector there.