Ahmad Al-Louh is the fifth Al Jazeera journalist to be killed since the war on Gaza began more than 14 months ago.
Al Jazeera Media Network has strongly condemned the killing of its cameraman, Ahmad Baker Al-Louh, 39, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on Sunday.
“He was brutally killed in an air strike that targeted a Civil Defence post in the market area of Al-Nuseirat Camp, central Gaza Strip,” the channel said in a statement. The Israeli occupation forces took responsibility for the killing.
Al Jazeera described the incident as a “targeted killing” and has called on human rights and media organisations to take action against what it refers to as systematic violations of international humanitarian law.
Al-Louh was target-killed while covering defence forces’ rescue operations of a family that was severely injured in an earlier bombing.
The onslaught took place in the Al-Nuseirat Camp, located in the central Gaza Strip, targeting a civil defence post.
“The Network calls on all human rights and media organisations to condemn the Israeli Occupation’s systematic killing of journalists in cold blood, the evasion of responsibilities under international humanitarian law, and to bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice,” Al Jazeera added.
In the statement, the network expressed condolences to Al-Louh’s family and wife and confirmed its intent to pursue all legal avenues to ensure accountability for the killing.
This latest incident follows a previous attack on Al-Louh’s home by Israeli forces just days before, which led to its destruction.
“The killing of Ahmad Al-Louh took place just days after the targeting of his house by Israeli Occupation Forces in the Da’wa neighbourhood of Nuseirat camp, in which it was utterly destroyed,” the statement said, adding that the killing coincides with the first anniversary of the killing of Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa and the injuring of Wael Al Dahdouh and “follows the pattern since the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin Refugee Camp in the West Bank in 2022”.
The Israeli occupation forces stated that the attack targeted a “command and control centre embedded in the offices of the civil defence organisation” and was aimed at Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives.
The civil defence agency spokesman, Mahmud Bassal, reported that three additional members of his agency were killed during the same airstrike.
In a statement, Hamas referred to the killing of Ahmad Al-Louh as an “assassination” and a “war crime,” characterising it as “part of a systematic targeting of journalists in Gaza, aimed at intimidating them and deterring them.”
This incident follows a pattern of violence that has raised concerns over the safety of journalists in Gaza.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported on Sunday that at least 137 journalists and media workers have been killed in the region since the outbreak of conflict on October 7, 2023.
Al Jazeera has faced long-standing accusations from Israeli occupation, with the Israeli occupation government previously accusing the network of having affiliations with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, claims Al Jazeera has consistently denied.
The Israeli government has previously taken steps to restrict Al Jazeera’s operations, including the September raid on its West Bank office and a law passed in April that allows the banning of foreign broadcasts deemed harmful to state security.
