Two Al Jazeera journalists killed in Israeli airstrike on Gaza

Network denounces ‘targeted assassination’ of its employees

An Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed two Al Jazeera journalists on Wednesday as Benjamin Netanyahu’s military continued its war in the besieged Palestinian territory.

Israeli forces targeted a car carrying reporter Ismail al-Ghoul and cameraperson Rami al-Rifi, both 27, killing them instantly, along with a child who was travelling with them.

At least 113 media workers, most of them Palestinians, have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched an air and ground offensive in the territory following a Hamas attack last October that killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and took more than 250 hostages.

Israel has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians in Gaza so far, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. The fighting has displaced nearly 90 per cent of its 2.2 million population, according to the UN, and left around half a million facing starvation.

We will miss your voice
We will miss your reporting

May your souls rest in peace pic.twitter.com/JKpt5aFVf0

— Hind Khoudary (@Hind_Gaza) July 31, 2024

The Al Jazeera journalists were travelling to report from near the destroyed home of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh following his assassination in Iran when they were killed, their colleague Anas Al-Sharif said.

Haniyeh was assassinated by a suspected Israeli missile strike in Tehran during the early hours of Wednesday in an attack that has further escalated tensions in the Middle East and raised fears about the prospect of a wider regional war. Israel hasn’t directly claimed responsibility.

Here is Ismail’s tribute to himself and the dying humanity.

“Let me tell you, my friend, that I no longer know the taste of sleep. The bodies of children and the screams of the injured and their blood-soaked images never leave my sight. The cries of mothers and the wailing of… pic.twitter.com/o91d4fTLho

— Mohamed Moawad (@moawady) July 31, 2024

The bodies of the slain Al Jazeera journalists were taken to nearby al-Ahli hospital from where al-Sharif spoke over the phone with the Qatari news channel. Information about the child killed in the attack wasn’t available.

Al Jazeera denounced the “targeted assassination” of its journalists and pledged to “pursue all legal actions to prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes”. “This latest attack on Al Jazeera journalists is part of a systematic targeting campaign against the network’s journalists and their families since October 2023,” the network said.

Mohamed Moawad, managing director of Al Jazeera Arabic, said without al-Ghoul the world would not have seen "the devastating images of these massacres". He is survived by his wife who has been living in a camp for internally displaced people and a young daughter.

“Shame on those who have failed the civilians, journalists, and humanity," Moawad said.

Aljazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif breaks down in tears as he reports the killing of his colleagues and friends Al-Ghoul & El-Rifi. pic.twitter.com/3PYiYMESUs

— Arwa Ibrahim (@arwaib) July 31, 2024

Hamas accused Israel of deliberately targeting the journalists, calling it a "heinous crime" aimed at "terrorising and silencing" Palestinian mediapersons who report on "the ongoing genocide" in Gaza.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric called for an investigation and accountability for the killing of the two journalists.

Israel has denied targeting journalists and blamed the high death toll on Hamas fighting in densely populated urban areas. The Israel military said in December it "has never, and will never, deliberately target journalists".

The Israeli government closed Al Jazeera’s offices in the country in May under a new law that allows it to shut down media outlets deemed a security threat.

The network has seen several journalists or their family members in Gaza killed in Israeli attacks since the war began.

Samer Abudaqa, a cameraperson, was killed in a strike in December. Wael Dahdouh, the network’s bureau chief in Gaza, was reporting in October when he received word on air that his wife, daughter, son and grandchild had been killed in an Israeli attack. Another of his sons, who also worked for Al Jazeera, was killed in an Israeli strike in January.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has counted 106 Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza over the past 10 months. Hamas has put the number at 165.