Four family members of Al Jazeera Arabic’s bureau chief in Gaza Wael Al-Dahdouh were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Wednesday evening, the news organisation said.
Al-Dahdouh lost his wife, son, daughter and grandson after the Israeli military attacked the Nuseirat refugee camp in the south of the Gaza Strip. Several other members of his family are buried under the rubble of the building, Al-Jazeera said later on Wednesday.
The news channel said Al-Dahdouh’s family had been staying at the Nuseirat camp after having been displaced by the initial bombardment in their neighbourhood. They had moved there after Israel’s military told civilians in northern Gaza – a region with a population of about 1.1 million – to leave towards the south within 24 hours.
Al Jazeera journalist Youmna Elsayed said that Al-Dahdouh had decided to not leave Gaza City despite the threats and warnings. “He said, ‘I must be here in Gaza City to report about these people who are getting bombed every day,’” Elsayed said.
Al-Dahdouh said the attack on his family was part of a series of targeted attacks on children, women and civilians. “I was just reporting from Yarmouk about such an attack, and the Israeli raids have targeted many areas, including Nuseirat,” he said.
The veteran journalist said that he had his doubts that the Israeli occupation would not let the displaced Palestinians go without “punishing” them. “And sadly, that is what happened,” he said. “This is the ‘safe’ area that the occupation army spoke of.”
A video released by Al-Jazeera Managing Editor Mohamed Moawad showed Al-Dahdouh’s colleagues accompanying him shortly after he heard about the deaths of his family members.
Al-Jazeera said it “strongly condemns the indiscriminate targeting and killing of innocent civilians in Gaza, which has led to the loss of Wael Al-Dahdouh’s family and countless others”. It urged the international community to intervene and put an end to attacks on civilians.
The channel said it is deeply concerned about the safety of its employees in Gaza and holds Israeli authorities responsible for their security.
Israel had announced a siege of Gaza Strip after Palestinian militant group Hamas had launched an attack on the country on October 7 that killed more than 1,400 Israelis. Since then the Gaza strip has been relentlessly attacked through airstrikes. Israeli attacks have killed at least 6,546 people in Gaza and wounded more than 17,400, Palestinian authorities said on Wednesday.
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