In yet another brutal crime, Israeli warplanes targeted a media tent near Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza strip late Sunday, April 6. At least two journalists were killed and nine others injured in the assault. A young man named Youssef Al-Khazandar was also killed in the airstrike.
The slain journalists were identified as Hilmi al-Faqaawi, who was a social media manager for Palestine Today TV, and Ahmed Mansour, an editor for Palestine Today news agency.
Meanwhile the injured journalists were identified as follows:
- Ahmed Al-Agha, contributor for BBC Arabic
- Mohammed Fayeq, freelance photojournalist and drone operator
- Abdullah Al-Attar, freelance photographer for Anadolu Agency
- Ihab Al-Bardini, camera operator contributing to US channel ABC
- Mahmoud Awad, camera operator for Al Jazeera
- Majed Qudaih, correspondent for Radio Algérie
- Ali Eslayeh, photographer for West Bank-based site Alam24
Footage circulated online showed journalist Ahmad Mansour engulfed in fire and burning alive while his colleagues scrambled to rescue him. Mansour was reportedly admitted to the hospital and succumbed to his critical injuries in the early hours of Tuesday, April 8.
The horrifying footage recalled the scenes from last October, when displaced Palestinian people were burned alive in full view of the world, after Israeli fighter jets targeted their tents inside the premises of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.
The airstrike was a deliberate attack, say organizations and rights groups
The airstrike was widely condemned by international organizations and human rights groups, which considered it a “deliberate” attack.
The Euro-Med Monitor said in a statement on Monday, April 7 that the incident is “part of a broader, deliberate campaign by Israeli forces to suppress independent reporting from the Gaza Strip by targeting those who document and expose the reality on the ground, especially amid the ongoing genocide.”
Read more: Israel kills 700 in one week and resumes targeting of hospitals and journalists in Gaza
Blaming the international community, the organization added: “The glaring lack of any international accountability mechanisms or legal consequences has emboldened Israeli forces to continue committing these crimes with impunity, making the Strip the deadliest zone in the world for journalists.”
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) denounced the incident, considering it an act that “constitutes a gross violation of press freedom and underscores Israel’s unrelenting policies that aim to suppress the truth, muffle voices, cover up its crimes, and withhold them from global opinion.”
For its part the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) condemned, in the harshest terms what it called as an “appalling massacre”, reiterating its “urgent call on the United Nations Security Council to act swiftly and adopt a resolution to stop these massacres and the ongoing genocide targeting the entire Palestinian people, including journalists.”
Moreover, the Syndicate called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) “to expedite the proceedings and complaints filed against the Israeli war criminals”, foremost among them the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Death toll of Palestinian journalists in Gaza surpasses 232
According to a report published by The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs last week, the death toll of Palestinian journalists and media workers killed by Israel since the genocide began in Gaza in October 2023 had reached 232.
After the killing of Hilmi al-Faqaawi, which was preceded by the murdering of Palestinian journalist Islam Miqdad in another Israeli airstrike on Khan Younis earlier on Sunday, the number of Gaza’s journalists slain by Israel rises to 234.
