Over four days this week, the Israeli military killed two journalists and severely injured at least three others. The attacks are part of the harrowing toll taken on Gaza’s press corp since the military began its all-out assault on the Palestinian territory just over a year ago.
On Wednesday, as Israel intensified its attacks on the northern Gaza Strip, the military attacked the Jabaliya refugee camp, killing Mohamed al-Tanani, a cameraman for Al-Aqsa TV, and injured his colleague Tamer Labad. Fadi al-Hawidi, a cameraman for Al Jazeera Arabic, was shot in the neck and, according to other journalists in Gaza, is now permanently paralyzed due to his injuries.
According to the government media office in Gaza, 175 journalists have been killed since October 7, not including al-Tanani.
The assault on Jabaliya came as the Israeli military laid a siege that saw attacks on hospitals, homes, and other civilian areas. The entire northern region of Gaza was put under evacuation orders by the Israelis, with the military directing civilians to flee to areas already overcrowded in the south.
The journalists were covering the siege and the ill-fated attempts by civilians to flee on Wednesday when they were attacked. Witnesses said the journalists were targeted. Like other Palestinian journalists who have been killed and injured in Gaza, al-Hawidi was wearing a flak jacket with the word “PRESS” clearly visible on it.
“It was not random, but direct targeting on purpose,” journalist Hossam Shabat, who had been with al-Hawidi and other reporters in Jabaliya on Wednesday, told The Intercept. “Fadi was wearing his press uniform which distinguishes him from the residents as a journalist.”
The casualties among journalists punctuated the latest chapter in a war that has, week after week, been as brutal as it has been tragic for Palestinians in Gaza.
The toll has been especially heavy for journalists. According to the government media office in Gaza, 175 journalists have been killed since October 7, not including al-Tanani. The Committee to Protect Journalists, which has tallied 126 journalist killings carried out by Israeli forces, says that the toll is the highest it has documented in a single year since the group began recording killings in 1992.
As of late June, nine months into the war, an analysis from Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism and The Intercept, collaborating as part of the Gaza Project on the destruction of press infrastructure in the strip, found that 1 in 10 journalists in Gaza had been killed by the Israeli military.
Covering Attacks on Civilians
In his last post on Instagram before he was shot in the neck, al-Hawidi, the Al Jazeera Arabic journalist, filmed himself as he reported on civilians being shot at by Israeli forces while attempting to leave the area in compliance with the military’s orders. Unarmed people can be seen running as gunfire rings in the background.
The reporters who came under fire were not near military vehicles, said Shabat, a journalist who reports for Al Jazeera Mubasher.
Speaking on Al Jazeera, correspondent Anas al-Sharif echoed Shabat’s account, saying that he, al-Hawidi, and the other journalists began to move after the gunfire.
“Suddenly a quadcopter drone appeared above the broadcast vehicle and the place where we were, and it started firing directly at us,” al-Sharif said. “The drone started chasing us and the entire crew, firing directly at us. A bullet hit my colleague Fadi’s neck and he immediately passed out and fell to the ground.”
In footage broadcast by Al Jazeera, al-Hawidi can be seen lying face down on the sidewalk, not moving. His colleagues can be heard off camera, desperately calling his name over and over.
“The IDF is not aware of the incident referred to,” said a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, in a statement to The Intercept after this story was published. “The IDF has never, and will never, deliberately target journalists.”
Photo: Omar al-Qatta/AFP via Getty Images
Al-Aqsa journalists Mohamed al-Tanani and Tamer Labad had also been covering the Israeli incursion on Jabaliya when they were attacked, according to Ibrahim al-Khalili, a reporter working with Al Jazeera English. In footage taken by another journalist, Mahmoud Abusalama of Alghad TV, paramedics with the Palestine Red Crescent Society said that they were attacked four times while trying to reach al-Tanani and Labad.
“We received his” — al-Tanani’s — “body in Al-Ahli hospital in northern Gaza,” al-Khalili told The Intercept.
We said our final goodbye to him and proceeded to bury him. The footage captured by al-Khalili shows Altanani’s body being prepared for burial while still wearing his press flak jacket. Remembering his friend and colleague, al-Khalili described al-Tanani as a dedicated and hardworking journalist. He mentioned that al-Tanani always provided him with advice and they deeply miss him.
“He worked tirelessly from the beginning to cover the atrocities and attacks happening in northern Gaza City,” al-Khalili said. “He always gave advice to me. We miss him, we miss him so much. We are heartbroken.”
“We as journalists here feel like we are the target of the occupation while just showing what’s happening on the ground and showing the truth to the world.”
“He Continued Reporting”
The first deadly attack on journalists this week occurred when Hassan Hamad was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his home in Jabaliya. According to colleagues, Hamad had received threats warning him to stop reporting in Gaza. Just before his death, Hamad had sent in new footage, according to Ashraf Mashhawari of Media Town Productions.
“He understood his journalistic responsibilities clearly, and conveyed many important news stories from the northern Gaza Strip.”
Hamad’s remains were given to his family in plastic bags and a small box.
On Monday, another Al Jazeera journalist, Ali al-Attar, was injured in an attack near the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip. Al-Attar sustained head injuries from shrapnel and is in critical condition.
Al Jazeera and the Committee to Protect Journalists have emphasized the urgent need to evacuate him for medical treatment due to the attacks on Gaza’s hospitals. His colleagues in Gaza have echoed the plea, expressing concerns about his recovery.
Journalists with Al Jazeera have been repeatedly targeted by the Israeli military, with four killed in the past year. In September, the Israeli military raided and closed Al Jazeera’s office in the occupied West Bank.
The situation in Gaza continues to be dire, with journalists facing direct attacks and restrictions on reporting. The work of Palestinian journalists remains crucial in documenting the ongoing conflict and its impact on civilians.
Shabat believes that Al Jazeera’s journalists in Gaza are specifically targeted by the occupation army. He highlighted the case of al-Wahidi, who was shot while reporting on the situation in Jabaliya.
“The occupation army targets journalists and targeted Fadi because he was reporting the opposite of what the occupation army says,” Shabat said. “Fadi reported that those targeted are children.”
“Fadi as a journalist was very proactive and very, very hardworking,” he added. “When the rescue workers would remove body parts and the injured, I would see tears in Fadi’s eyes because he is a journalist and a human being.”
Despite facing personal tragedies and challenges, journalists like al-Wahidi continue to report on the ground in Gaza. Their dedication and courage in the face of adversity are commendable. The article has been revised to include a statement from the Israeli military that was received after the initial publication. Additional details have been added regarding the threats against Hassan Hamad and the events leading to his death. Thank you for your understanding.
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