Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza entered its 94th day in a row, with dozens killed and injured in fresh bombardment on Monday, January 8. At the same time, Israel is coming under increasing and widespread criticism for its deliberate targeting and killing of Palestinian journalists and their families.
As per reports, airstrikes and ground bombardment have killed at least 200 Palestinians and injured hundreds in a single day, with the death toll in Gaza crossing at least 22,900 and the number of injured rising to 58,316. 7,000 Palestinians are also missing, feared to be trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings.
The Israeli military has also continued to carry out violent raids in the Occupied West Bank, as well as targeting areas in neighboring Lebanon, assassinating a senior Hezbollah commander in the process.
Air attacks and ground assaults between Sunday, January 7, and Monday in Gaza have struck areas including Rafah, Deir al-Balah, al-Maghazi refugee camp, Khan Younis, and Nuseirat refugee camp, among several others.
At least 18 Palestinians were killed in the attack on Deir al-Balah, three in Rafah, eight in Khan Younis, as well as dozens of others in the Nuseirat refugee camp and other parts of central and Southern Gaza. Israeli drone strikes have also been reportedly striking the Al-Aqsa hospital regularly, after ordering patients, doctors and other medical staff to evacuate the hospital completely.
The World Health Organization has denounced the attacks on the hospital and expressed alarm over the evacuation orders, adding that the whereabouts of the more than 600 patients and medical staff is currently unknown. The United Nations, as well as aid groups such as Doctors Without Borders (MSF) have condemned the attacks on the hospital. They have also highlighted the dire situation the patients and civilians are having to face after several of them such as the International Rescue Committee and Medical Aid for Palestinians were forced to evacuate their staff from the hospital over safety concerns.
Additionally, disturbing reports have emerged in the past few days of Israeli forces deliberately targeting and killing Palestinian journalists and their families. At least 102 journalists have been killed so far, and 71 others injured since the beginning of the war on October 7 last year, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate.
Among the latest journalists to be killed is Hamza Dahdouh, son of the Al Jazeera Gaza bureau chief, Wael Dahdouh, who was a journalist as well with AFP. He was killed along with his colleague, Mustafa Thuraya in an airstrike on their car in Khan Younis yesterday.
Families of journalists have also not been spared, with two air strikes today killing several family members of journalists Ahmad al-Batta and Sameer Radi. Press freedom groups such as the Committee to Protect Journalists have condemned the attacks on journalists and have called for investigations into the killings.
Israeli killings and violence in the occupied West Bank has continued to intensify, with at least 10 Palestinians killed, including a four-year old Palestinian girl, along with at least two other Palestinians shot dead by Israeli forces in occupied East Jerusalem and Ramallah.
Additionally, an Israeli drone strike killed at least seven Palestinians in the city of Jenin on Sunday, with dozens of other sustaining injuries. Israeli forces have also conducted raids in and around several other towns and villages in the West Bank, including Hebron, Nablus, Ramallah, Jerusalem, al-Bireh, Jenin, Tulkarm, during which they have also arrested several Palestinians, including a doctor and a nurse.
Since the beginning of the Israeli war in Gaza, at least 332 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank, while more than 4,000 have been injured and over 5,600 arrested. Palestinian fighters as well as civilians resisting the Israeli raids in several of these towns such as Jenin have also clashed with the invading Israeli soldiers and engaged them in firefights, with reports noting that at least two Israeli soldiers died as a result, with a number of others injured.
