New video challenges Israeli explanation for killing Gaza journalists
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/19/gaza-journalists-killed-israel-al-jazeera-footage/ (paywall)
An investigation by The Washington Post is raising “critical questions” about Israeli justification for the killing of two journalists in Gaza in January.
Hamza Dahdouh, the eldest son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh, was killed in an Israeli missile attack in Khan Younis, along with another journalist Mustafa Thuraya and their driver. Two others were seriously wounded.
In a statement following the attack, the Israeli army said a military aircraft “identified and struck a terrorist who operated an aircraft that posed a threat to [Israeli] troops”. It added, “We are aware of the reports that during the strike, two other suspects who were in the same vehicle as the terrorist were also hit.”
According to The Post, the journalists were operating a consumer model drone to capture footage of a building hit during Israeli bombardment. The video from Thuraya’s drone, obtained by The Post, showed no “Israeli soldiers, aircraft, or other military equipment” were visible.
The newspaper also interviewed witnesses and colleagues of the reporters, who provided detailed accounts.
“The Post found no indications that either man was operating as anything other than a journalist that day. Both passed through Israeli checkpoints on their way to the south early in the war. Dahdouh had recently been approved to leave Gaza, a rare privilege unlikely to have been granted to a known militant,” it said.
Shooting attack near illegal settlement
We’re getting reports of a suspected shooting attack near the Gush Etzion junction, close to Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli army says two members of its security forces were wounded in the shooting near Gush Etzion, while the suspect was “neutralised”.
Palestinian man killed during West Bank settler attack
A man who was seriously injured near the village of Yanoun by Israeli bullets during an attack by Israelis, from an illegal settlement, has died of his wounds, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in the occupied West Bank and Palestinian news agency Wafa report.
Fourty-year-old Fakher Basem Bani Jaber was shot in the back near the village, southeast of the city of Nablus. Medical sources told Wafa that he was transported to Rafidiya Hospital and declared dead.
Residents of the town said that several people responded to an attack by settlers, which was protected by the Israeli army, leading to the outbreak of gunfire during which Jaber sustained the injuries that led to his death.
According to the UN, nine Palestinians have been killed by settlers, and three by either Israeli forces or settlers, across the occupied West Bank since October 7. Jaber’s case is not included in this count.
Hezbollah attacks Israeli positions near Lebanese border
The Lebanese armed group says it struck Israeli positions at Baranit site in southern Lebanon. Fighters also targeted Israeli soldiers and a military logistical vehicle on al-Tayhat Hill by a guided missile, which the group said led to an unknown number of casualties.
Moreover, the group said it hit Israeli soldiers at the al-Malikiyah site in southern Lebanon with missiles.
Exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah have largely remained confined to border regions, but several Israeli bombings on Lebanese territory have hit areas further north in recent weeks, raising fears of a full-blown conflict.
