According to al-Jazeera television channel, two Palestinian journalists were killed in an Israeli attack in the Gaza Strip.
The broadcaster said video journalist Mustafa Thuria, who also works for the AFP news agency, and Al Jazeera journalist Hamsa Wael Dahduh were killed today in a “targeted attack” on their car. The Health Ministry of the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by radical Islamist Hamas, also blamed Israel for the attack.
According to eyewitnesses, car hit by rockets
According to colleagues, Thuria, who is around 30 years old, had worked as a video journalist for AFP since 2019 and also reported from the Gaza Strip for the AP and Portal news agencies, as well as for the television channels Al-Jazeera and CNN. Dahduh is the son of Wael al-Dahduh, who runs Al Jazeera's Gaza Strip office.
Thuria and Dahduh were traveling through the Gaza Strip to document damage to a house following an attack in Rafah. On the way back, her car was hit. Witnesses told AFP that the car was hit by two rockets. A third journalist in the car, Hasem Rajab, was seriously injured.
Harsh criticism from Al-Jazeera
Qatar-based broadcaster Al-Jazeera condemned the attack on the journalists' car “in the strongest possible terms” and accused Israel of “violating the principles of press freedom.” AFP chief information officer Phil Chetwynd expressed dismay. The secretary general of Reporters Without Borders, Christophe Deloire, also said on the short messaging service X (Twitter) that he was “shocked” by the deaths of the two journalists.
There are still no statements from Israel. The Israeli army responded to an AFP query requesting the geographic “coordinates” of the alleged attack.