Five Palestinian journalists have been killed in an Israeli vehicle airstrike in central Gaza, their employer has announced, as negotiations for a renewed ceasefire between Hamas and Israel reportedly reach an impasse.
Faisal Abu al-Kumsan, Ayman al-Jadi, Ibrahim al-Sheikh Khalil, Fadi Hassouna, and Mohammed al-Radaa were asleep in a broadcast truck marked as a news agency. It was the target of a direct attack by the Israeli military. Witnesses told Palestinian media. A further 16 people were killed in pre-dawn Israeli attacks across the territory, the local health ministry said.
The five people, who worked for Al-Quds Today, a television station affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a small armed group that fights alongside Hamas, were buried on Thursday morning.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it had carried out “precision attacks against vehicles housed inside Islamic Jihad terrorist groups in the Nuseyrat area,” adding: “Prior to the attack, a number of actions were taken to reduce the risk of harm to civilians. Action has been taken,” he added. ”
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said 195 journalists, including those killed in the latest attack, have been killed and at least 400 injured since the Gaza war began in October 2023, when Hamas launched attacks on Israel. .
The Israel Defense Forces denied targeting media personnel. But as the IDF's interpretation of the laws of war in the conflict loosens, some in the military are targeting media outlets controlled by or affiliated with Palestinian extremist groups, according to an investigation by the Guardian. appears to view journalists working in its territory as legitimate military targets.
Foreign media are prevented from free access to Gaza by Israel, so the task of documenting the war there falls solely to Palestinian journalists, many of whom continue to work despite the security threats. continues.
Under the Geneva Conventions, journalists can lose their civilian status if they engage in the planning or execution of combat operations. Working for an organization like Al-Quds Today does not make someone a target.
The Middle East branch of the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday that the organization was “shocked by reports that five journalists and media workers were killed in a broadcast vehicle in an Israeli attack.”
“Journalists are civilians and must be protected at all times,” he said on social media.
Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 killed approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 hostages. About 100 hostages remain in Gaza, and about a third of them are thought to have died.
More than 45,000 people have died in Israel's ongoing war in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to the local health ministry, which the United Nations relies on for its death data.
The war has sparked a humanitarian crisis amid allegations that Israel is blocking aid and medical supplies from entering the country and depopulating the northern third of the region. He denies the charges.
Israel's Can Radio reported on Thursday that negotiations for a renewed ceasefire and hostage deal have stalled, with Hamas and Israel accusing the two sides of breaking an already agreed deal. Hamas has allegedly reneged on its promise to submit a list of hostages to be released in the first phase of the deal, and Arabic media reports that Hamas has introduced new conditions related to Israel's withdrawal from the Strip. It was reported that he was accused of doing so.
Israel's negotiating team returned from a week of talks hosted by mediator Qatar earlier this week, but both sides say talks are continuing.
Meanwhile, in Jerusalem on Thursday, Israel's militant national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir visited the Temple Mount, a contested holy site known to Palestinians as al-Aqsa.
His office said the visit marked the beginning of the Hanukkah holiday. “The minister prayed for the safety of the soldiers, the return of hostages, living and dead, and complete victory of the war.”
