The scenes of Al-Jazeera correspondent Wael Al-Dahdouh’s farewell to his family which was targeted by the Israeli planes barely faded before the same scene repeated itself on Sunday November 5 2023. Journalist Mohammed Al-Aaloul a photographer for the Turkish Anadolu Agency bid farewell to his four children in addition to his brothers who were killed when their homes in Al-Maghazi refugee camp were targeted by Israeli forces.
These two scenes were meant by Israel to form a barrier against the continuity of their voices and the lenses of their cameras in conveying the massacres carried out by the Israeli aircraft against the people of the Gaza Strip. However they refused silence and defied this targeting returning to their work despite all the pain.
Since the beginning of the war on Gaza on October 7th approximately 46 journalists have been martyred according to the Government Media Office (GMO).
The GMO in a press release said that “the deliberate killing arrest and systematic destruction of Palestinian press and media institutions and the homes of journalists aim to silence the Palestinian narrative that conveys the massacres committed by Israel and its killing extermination and displacement of the Palestinian people.”
It emphasized that the deliberate targeting of journalists should urge everyone to hold Israel accountable for its crimes against Palestinian journalists and to present them to international courts so as to ensure that Israel does not escape punishment and to hold it accountable for these crimes which amount to war crimes and to present them to the International Criminal Court. Palestinian journalists are protected under all international laws the GMO emphasized.
In addition to direct targeting there has been an Israeli incitement campaign against Palestinian journalists through social media as indicated in a report published by the (Hamla) center in Haifa. Israeli journalists and many Israeli parties have been inciting the killing of Palestinian journalists since the beginning of the current war by publishing their pictures and inciting videos against them.
Killing the witnesses of truth
Palestinian journalist and unionist Abdel Nasser Abu Aoun explains that Israel seeks to obscure the truth by directly targeting journalists or targeting their families. He indicates that “journalists have been covering the ongoing war on the Gaza Strip and have had an impact through images and words. Therefore Israel sought revenge against them by killing them along with their families.”
He explains that Israel delivers threat messages to journalists in the Gaza Strip by targeting their colleagues and their families as happened with the director and correspondent of Al Jazeera in Gaza Wael Al-Dahdouh.
He indicates that Israel wants to kill the witnesses of truth especially the journalist who is present in the field and conveys images of the war to the world.
Our voice will not be silenced
Commenting on the targeting of his family al-Dahdouh told Anadolu Agency “It is clear that the Israeli bank of targets includes civilians massacres against families and this is part of what is happening to Palestinian families in the Gaza Strip in general.”
He continued “This is a painful and tragic price certainly but the most important thing is that this will not silence our voice.”
He concluded by saying “We will continue to fulfill our duty towards the people and towards this noble humanitarian message of journalism.”
