US media org on Al Jazeera journalists: ‘Important and brave voices now silenced’
Emily Wilkins, who heads the National Press Club, based in Washington, DC, has said that Ismail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Rifi had been working under difficult conditions for months “to bring the world important news out of Gaza. They worked through illness from lack of food and water, and braved many dangers to keep reporting.”
“Today the odds and an air strike caught up with them. Their important and brave voices have now been silenced. Our hearts go out to their families and colleagues at Al Jazeera,” Wilkins said in a statement.
She also said that journalists are non-combatants in any conflict and that every necessary caution must be taken to keep them from being harmed.
“Al-Ghoul was on the air on Al Jazeera nearly every day. It was well known where he was, what he was doing and that he worked for Al Jazeera. While working, he wore a vest and helmet marked PRESS. More than one hundred Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza since the Hamas attacks on Israel October 7.”
US seeking additional information on killing of Al Jazeera staff in Gaza
The US State Department says it has asked counterparts in the region for additional information on the killing of Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Ismail al-Ghoul and his cameraman Rami al-Rifi in an Israeli air strike in northern Gaza.
Speaking at a news conference, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he did not believe that the assassinations of Hezbollah and Hamas commanders in Beirut and Tehran would lead Iran-backed militias to step up attacks against US forces in Iraq and Syria, as they have in the past.
“I think, quite frankly, I don’t see a return to where we were several months ago, not yet,” Austin told reporters as he departed the Philippines.
Asked if the recent attacks on US forces were connected to rising tensions between Hezbollah in Lebanon and Israel, Austin said, “I think it’s all connected.”
US secretary of state says ‘we can move to a better place’
After the killing of the Hamas leader, Antony Blinken said a Gaza ceasefire is essential to prevent the conflict from spreading to the rest of the region.
“We’ve been working from day one not only to try to get to a better place in Gaza but also to prevent the conflict from spreading, whether it’s the north with Lebanon and Hezbollah, whether it’s the Red Sea with the Houthis, whether it’s Iran, Syria, Iraq, you name it,” Blinken told a forum in Singapore.
“A big key to trying to make sure that doesn’t happen, and that we can move to a better place, is getting the ceasefire.”
Qatar – a vital mediator in truce talks which also hosts Hamas’s political leadership that included Haniyeh – has questioned the future of negotiations in the wake of Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination.
Blinken spoke with Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and emphasised “the importance of continuing to work to reach a ceasefire”, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
We can't as long as you keep arming and shielding Israel in every way.
