Israel has killed at least 126 journalists and detained 10 others in Gaza since the start of its genocidal war on Gaza.

Al Jazeera has condemned the Israeli targeting of its crew in northern Rafah on Tuesday, describing the attack as “a full-fledged crime added to Israel’s crimes against journalists”, in a statement.

Israeli occupation forces targeted the network’s correspondent, Ismail Abu Omar, and cameraman, Ahmed Matar, while they were in the Miraj area, northern Rafah. They were transferred to the European Gaza Hospital for treatment, and Abu Omar’s right leg was amputated.

Dr. Muhammad Al-Astal, an emergency physician at the European Hospital, told Al Jazeera that Abu Omar’s life was at risk.

In its statement, Al Jazeera added that targeting both of its members is “a new part in the series of the deliberate targeting of [its] journalists and correspondents in Palestine.”

“The network stresses that this targeting comes as intimidation to journalists to prevent them from reporting the heinous crimes committed by the occupation army against innocent civilians in Gaza,” Al Jazeera said.

Al Jazeera also renewed “its call on the international community and media freedom organisations to take immediate measures to protect journalists in Gaza and to hold the Israeli occupation army accountable.”

Al Jazeera’s other correspondent Hani Mahmoud told the network that Abu Omar and Matar were reporting on the conditions of 1.4 million displaced Palestinians in Rafah, which Israel plans to invade.

“They were in the field documenting the living conditions of displaced Palestinian families in that particular area and documenting the horror that they have experienced and lived through in the past 24 hours as massive air strikes targeted major parts of Rafah city, where close to 100 people were killed,” Mahmoud said.

“This is not the first incident, and we are expecting this is not the last one. There are ongoing, systematic, almost consistent attacks on journalists. Since the beginning of this war, more than 100 journalists have been targeted,” Mahmoud added.

The Government Media Office in Gaza said Tuesday’s incident marked the fifth such attack on Al Jazeera’s crew. It added that the attack came “within the framework of intimidating journalists and a failed attempt to obscure the truth.”

Israel has killed at least 126 journalists and detained 10 others in Gaza since the start of the genocidal war on Gaza. The journalists are among the 28,473 Palestinians, 70% of which are women and children, that Israel killed since October 7.

“There are no terms to this genocidal war. Everyone is a target,” Mahmoud told Al Jazeera.

In a statement, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called for an independent investigation into whether the reporters had been targeted.

“The Israeli drone strike that injured critically Al Jazeera reporter Ismail Abu Omar and freelance camera operator and photojournalist Ahmed Matar is another horrific example of the high personal price that journalists in Gaza are paying to cover the war so that the world can witness what is happening,” Sherif Mansour, CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator in Washington D.C, said.

Al Jazeera has been subjected to several deliberate attacks by Israel for its detailed and impartial coverage of the violence committed by the occupation forces against Palestinians in Gaza.

Journalists affiliated with the network have been subjected to numerous attacks and threats to harm them and their families.

This was evident on October 25, 2023, when Israel killed four members of prominent Al Jazeera journalist and Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh’s family.  

Israel killed Dahdouh’s wife, 15-year-old son, seven-year-old daughter and infant grandson in a strike in southern Gaza, despite Israel declaring the area to have been a safe zone.

Dahdouh was then injured on December 15 in an Israeli airstrike at the Farhana school in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, where Al Jazeera’s cameraman, Samer Abu Daqqa, was killed. 

Abu Daqqa succumbed to his injuries after bleeding for six hours. Israel prevented medics from reaching him by bombing the area nonstop and denying him access to ambulances.

Israel then killed Dahdouh’s eldest son, Hamza, on January 7 when it targeted his vehicle in Gaza alongside Palestinian journalist Mustafa Thurayya. Dahdouh was evacuated from Gaza to Doha on January 16 to receive medical treatment for a critical injury he sustained while with Abu Daqqa.

On October 19, Israel killed 19 family members of Al Jazeera Arabic’s broadcast engineer, Mohamed Abu Al-Qumsan, during a massacre at the Jabalia camp. 

The Israeli attack killed Al-Qumsan’s father, two sisters, eight nephews and nieces, his brother, his brother’s wife and their four children, his sister-in-law, and one uncle. 

On October 18, the Israeli attorney general reportedly approved a ban on Al Jazeera’s local bureau before she backtracked on an earlier decision the following month over Qatar’s key role in mediating the release of captives from Hamas in Gaza.

Then on December 6, Israel killed 22 family members of Al Jazeera correspondent in Gaza, Moamen Al Sharafi, in an attack on the Jabalia refugee camp in the north.