The Israeli attacks on the south of Lebanon have intensified since October 7 under the ongoing cross-border clashes with Hezbollah.
The Israeli occupation forces have killed 100 journalists in Gaza since the beginning of the genocide in the Palestinian enclave on October 7, Ismail Al-Thawabta, Gaza’s media office director general, said on Saturday.
“The [Israeli] occupation killed today [Saturday] the 100th journalist under its brutal war on the Gaza Strip, journalists and media personnel, while destroying dozens of their headquarters and media institutions,” Al-Thawabta said in a press briefing outside of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, central Gaza.
Palestinian journalist Muhammed Abu Hweidy was the 100th journalist that Israel killed since the beginning of the onslaught of Gaza, the media office confirmed on its Telegram channel.
Hweidy was killed in an Israeli air strike on his home in Shujaiya neighbourhood, eastern Gaza City.
A separate tally by the Committee to Protect Journalists says that at least 62 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza in addition to three in southern Lebanon.
The Israeli killings and targeting of journalists constitute a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, which are supposed to protect the press in areas of conflict.
The killings have been deemed as deliberate by rights organisations, including the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International among others.
“I don’t think we have seen a death toll of journalists to this concentration in any conflict that I can think of. There were about 1,000 journalists in Gaza at the beginning of this conflict,” Tim Dawson, the IFJ’s deputy general secretary, told Al Jazeera on Saturday.
“And while there are slightly different counts of precisely how many have died, if between seven-and-a-half and 10 percent have died, that is an extraordinarily high number,” Dawson added.
Dawson noted that some Palestinian journalists told him they had “received threatening calls from people” from the occupation forces.
Al Jazeera’s staff and journalists have been subjected to multiple attacks since the beginning of the war on Gaza.
On December 15, Israel killed Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa in an air strike where the network’s Gaza bureau chief, Wael Dahdouh, was also injured.
Abu Daqqa, 45, who served as a cameraman with Aljazeera for 20 years, succumbed to his injuries after being trapped inside the Farhana School for six hours as Israeli forces prevented medics from reaching him through nonstop shelling.
The ambulances had to receive prior approval to reach Abu Daqqa, according to Al Jazeera.
Dahdouh’s arm was injured by shrapnel from the Israeli air strike and Palestinians managed to get him to the Nasser Hospital in Gaza, where he underwent surgery. Al Jazeera took the case to the International Criminal Court on December 16.
“Al Jazeera Media Network has instructed its legal team to urgently refer the case of the assassination of its cameraman in Gaza, Samer AbuDaqa to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague,” the Qatar-based broadcaster said in a statement at the time.
On October 25, Israel killed four family members of Dahdouh in southern Gaza. Dahdouh’s wife, 15-year-old son, seven-year-old daughter and infant grandson were killed by the Israeli strike.
Israel had announced the south to be a safe zone before the attack.
Last week, the Israeli occupation forces killed Al Jazeera journalist Abdullah Alwan in Gaza in an air strike that targeted his family’s home in Jabalia.
Alwan was a prominent audio commentator for Al Jazeera Arabic’s Midan page and had worked for the organisation since 2017. The network provided no further details on his killing.
The journalists in Gaza are among the more than 20,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza since October 7.
A “preliminary toll” by Palestine’s health authorities on Saturday said that Israel has killed more than 20,258 Palestinians and wounded 53,688 others since October 7.
Euro-Med separately reported on December 23 that Israel killed at least 28,091 Palestinians, including 11,023 children. The figure is higher than the one reported by Gaza’s health authorities as it included victims believed to be under the rubble.
South of Lebanon attacks
The Israeli attacks on the south of Lebanon have intensified since October 7 under the ongoing cross-border clashes with Hezbollah.
As of December 19, the Israeli occupation forces have killed at least 109 people in southern Lebanon, according to figures by the Lebanese health ministry that have not been updated since then.
Hezbollah separately announced on Saturday that Israel killed 123 of its members since October 8.
The Israeli occupation forces have been targeting the press covering the attacks on the south of Lebanon.
Israel had killed Reuters videographer, Issam Abdallah, on October 13 and severely injured six other international press members, including Al Jazeera’s, during their coverage of the Israel-Hezbollah attacks in Alma Al-Chaab in the Tyre governorate, southern Lebanon.
Another Israeli air strike on November 21 then killed Al Mayadeen’s correspondent, Farah Omar, alongside cameraman Rabih Me’mari in Tayr Harfa, South Lebanon.
On Saturday, Al-Manar crew survived an Israeli strike on Al-Khardali area, south of Lebanon.
“It’s the first time that the Israeli occupation targets a public road in this area since the start of the aggression,” Al-Manar’s Ali Shoeib said via video link during Al-Manar’s news bulletin.
“Since day 1 of the war we have been stationed here in south Lebanon to implement our mission, and we will continue to do so despite all challenges,” he added.
On December 7, an Amnesty International investigation into the first incident found that the Israeli occupation forces knowingly targeted the seven-member press crew.
The watchdog made the conclusion after verifying over 100 videos and photographs, analysed weapons fragments from the site, and interviewed nine witnesses from the time of the attack.
“Those responsible for Issam Abdallah’s unlawful killing and the injuring of six other journalists must be held accountable[…]Israel must not be allowed to kill and attack journalists with impunity,” Aya Majzoub, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said today while announcing the probe’s outcomes.
The findings echoed a Reporters Without Borders (RSF) investigation on October 29, which found Israel deliberately targeted the slain Reuters journalist and the other six press members.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent Carmen Joukhadar—who was among the journalists on site—had told RSF that an Israeli helicopter was already hovering over the area and could clearly spot the press crew long before the bombing.
“According to their testimonies, an Israeli helicopter flew over them before a missile fell next to their car – of the same model as the one bombed on 13 October – also bearing the word ‘press’,” RSF said.
