Israel kills five journalists in clearly marked press vehicle in Gaza
A press vehicle targeted by Israeli forces in Gaza
Rayhan Uddin reports in Middle East Eye on 26 December 2024:
An Israeli air strike killed five Palestinian journalists in a clearly marked vehicle outside a hospital in central Gaza, according to Palestinian authorities and multiple media reports.
The journalists from Al-Quds Today were outside al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp when their van was struck by an Israeli strike on Thursday morning.
Images from the scene show a white-coloured van with the word “press” clearly written in large red letters, engulfed in flames. “The van was entirely burnt and destroyed. It was fully engulfed in flames,” Middle East Eye’s reporter Hani Aburezeq said from the scene.
The slain journalists were Fadi Hassouna, Ibrahim al-Sheikh Ali, Mohammed al-Ladah, Faisal Abu al-Qumsan and Ayman al-Jadi.
Jadi had gone to al-Awda Hospital with his wife, who was giving birth to their first child. According to the Wafa news agency, while waiting for his wife, he decided to check in on his colleagues who were outside the hospital in the vehicle.
His brother, photographer Omar al-Jadi, documented the moments after the Israeli strike hit the vehicle. “Guys, Ayman is inside. Ayman, my brother, is martyred,” he shouted in the video as he helplessly filmed the burning van. Aburezeq said: “Our colleague Ayman was here because his wife was about to deliver a baby. Tragically, he was martyred on the same day his son was born.”
Al-Quds Today condemned the attack and said its reporters were killed “while performing their journalistic and humanitarian duty”.