Five journalists were killed in an Israeli strike that hit their vehicle in Gaza, CNN reported, citing a hospital and their news outlet statement.
According to the hospital, the vehicle, belonging to Al-Quds Today Television, was parked outside Al-Awda Hospital when it was hit. The television channel, based in Gaza, is affiliated with the Palestine Islamic Jihad group.
Other journalists at the spot said Ayman Al-Jadi, Faisal Abu Al-Qumsan, Mohammed Al-Lada’a, Ibrahim Al-Sheikh Ali, and Fadi Hassouna were all sleeping in the vehicle when the strike hit, the report said.
Footage of the aftermath showed the vehicles in flames with the words “TV” and “PRESS” in large alphabets visible on the backdoors. Another video seen showed that it completely engulfed by flames, CNN reported.
Al-Quds Today Television condemned the attack and said that the five people were killed “while performing their journalistic and humanitarian duty.”
In a statement, the Israeli military said it conducted strike on what it called an “Islamic Jihad terrorist cell inside in the area of Nuseirat.” However, it did not provide any proof for its allegations.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a US-based non-profit group, has said at least 141 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza, Israel, the West Bank and Lebanon since October 7 last year, “making it the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.”
Of those killed, 133 were Palestinians in Gaza, who “face particularly high risks as they try to cover the conflict,” CNN reported. Earlier this month, an Al Jazeera photojournalist was killed in an airstrike in Gaza.
Ahmad Al-Louh (39) and four other people were killed in the strike that targeted an office of the Civil Defense service in Gaza’s Nuseirat Camp area, according to Al-Awda Hospital, which treated those injured.
Al Jazeera condemned the attack and said that Al-Louh was “brutally killed” while he was covering a Civil Defence attempt to rescue a family that had been injured in an earlier bombing.
The Israeli military said it targeted the Civil Defence offices in a “precise strike” and added that the site was being used as a “command-and-control center” by Hamas. It further said that Al-Louh was a “terrorist” who had previously served with Islamic Jihad. The IDF did not share any proof for its allegations. (ANI)
