‘Because of the messengers, the story of Gaza has gotten out’
You would think when Israel’s military and political leadership gather together they say “kill the messenger”. What’s a better way of not allowing the facts and tragedy on the ground from reaching the rest of the world.
Especially Al Jazeera journalists because they are the ones able to reach a wider audience around and tell the stories of everyday families in Gaza – what they’ve gone through over the past 10 months. The story of genocide.
It’s only those young journalists that we mourn today telling the stories of those who cannot.
Israel has been targeting civilians in Gaza – journalists, doctors, engineers – they are the target of this war. Because of the messengers, the story of Gaza has gotten out to the world, which now knows there’s a genocidal government in Israel.
Journalists continue to be targeted by Israeli forces in Gaza
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says the killing of correspondent al-Ghoul and cameraman al-Rifee marks the latest example of the risks of documenting the war in Gaza, which is the deadliest the organisation has documented in 30 years.
CPJ President Jodie Ginsberg told Al Jazeera that Israeli forces have been known to directly target journalists in Gaza.
The New York-based watchdog has documented the killings of 111 media workers in Gaza but said the real number may be higher. Ginsberg said the organisation found at least three of the journalists to have been directly targeted by Israeli forces and it is investigating an additional 10 cases.
“That’s not just a pattern we’ve seen in this conflict. It appears to be part of a broader strategy that aims to stifle the information coming out of Gaza,” Ginsberg said, citing Israel’s ban on Al Jazeera from reporting or broadcasting in Israel as part of this trend.
More details on killing of Al Jazeera journalists
Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic have provided us with more details on the circumstances surrounding their deaths. Here is a summary:
- Al-Ghoul and al-Rifi were killed in Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza. They were reporting from near the house of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated earlier in the day.
- They were wearing their “press” vests, and their car was clearly marked as a news media vehicle.
- Al-Ghoul and al-Rifi were targeted after they finished their coverage. They were on their way to al-Ahli Arab Hospital after being asked to leave the area by Israeli forces.
- Nonetheless, they were attacked from the air by Israel.
- The air strike on their car was a direct hit and decapitated al-Ghoul and al-Rifi.
‘Israeli army knew they were journalists’
Ismail al-Thawabteh, head of the Government Media Office in Gaza, says despite the military’s knowledge of the identity of the two Al Jazeera reporters, “it still executed them in a heinous, barbaric way”.
In a show of solidarity with Palestinian journalists and media professionals at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, he said: “This raises the number of journalists and media personnel killed to 165. They were killed so the truth can’t be seen.”
“We denounce these continuous crimes against the media, and we hold Israel’s occupation responsible for their killings, and we hold the US administration responsible as well for giving Israel the green light to assassinate Palestinian journalists with US weaponry and missiles.”
