Emotion and anger prevailed in the Al-Jazeera newsroom on Sunday. The Qatari satellite channel accused the Israeli army of "targeting" Palestinian journalists in Gaza, after two reporters working for it were killed in a strike attributed to Israel.
Hamza Wael Dahdouh, the son of Al-Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief Wael al-Dahdouh, and Mustafa Thuraya, a freelance videographer who works with AFP, were killed on Sunday while driving in Rafah, at the southern tip of the Palestinian territory.
#Gaza: 2 journalists killed by a targeted strike 🇮🇱on their car, according to our information. RSF affirms its support for the families of Mustafa Thuraya @AFP and Hamza al-Dahdouh @AlJazeera. Targeting reporters is a war crime. In the fourth month of war, 4 reporters have been killed in Gaza pic.twitter.com/79BjjlkIHTk
— RSF (@RSF_inter) January 7, 2024
"Al Jazeera strongly condemns the Israeli occupation forces' targeting of Palestinian journalists' cars," the channel said in a statement, accusing Israel of "violating the principles of press freedom."
'Murderous hatred'
"Hamza was everything to me... Wael al-Dahdouh told the TV channel. "While we are full of humanity, they (Israel) are filled with murderous hatred," he continued.
"I hope that my son Hamza's blood will be the last to be shed for journalists and residents of the Gaza Strip," he said from the hospital where he was standing, crying and hugging his son's body, surrounded by relatives and journalists.
VIDEO. Palestinian journalist learns of death of colleague Mohamed Hatab live in Gaza
Al-Jazeera's bureau chief in the Gaza Strip had already lost his wife and two children in another Israeli strike in the first weeks of the war.
They had gone to the scene of a bombing
Moustafa Thuraya, in his thirties, had been working with AFP since 2019. He had also worked with Reuters and AP, as well as Qatar's Al-Jazeera and CNN, according to his AFP colleagues.
Agence France Presse (AFP) asked for a reaction from the Israeli army, which demanded the precise "coordinates" of the strike.
The two journalists had gone to the scene of a strike in Rafah, at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip. It was on their way back that they were fatally hit by a strike.
At least 77 journalists killed since 7 October
"We are shocked by the news of the death of Mustafa Thuraya in Gaza... by Hamza Waël Dahdouh (...) It seems that an Israeli strike hit their car... The secretary-general of the NGO Reporters Without Borders wrote on X.
🚨THREAD We are shocked by the news of the deaths in Gaza of Moustafa Thuraya (a freelance videographer working with the @AFP) and Hamza Waël Dahdouh, a journalist for the @AlJazeera channel. It appears that an Israeli strike hit their car. It's definitely a... pic.twitter.com/ycKyclpoHk
— Christophe Deloire (@cdeloire) January 7, 2024
Hamas' press service said in a statement that it "condemns this heinous crime committed by the Israeli occupation army with the aim of intimidating (journalists) and preventing media coverage of the conflict."
As of December 31, at least 77 journalists and media workers had been killed since the Israeli-Palestinian Hamas war in the Gaza Strip began on October 7, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Of the journalists, 70 were Palestinians, four Israelis and three Lebanese.