“As Israel announces the withdrawal of its troops from the Gaza Strip, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) reports that 12 Palestinian journalists and one media worker have been killed since the start of Operation Protective Edge on 8 July,” said the international organization, according to WAFA.In a Tuesday statement, RWB said that seven of the journalists were killed “in connection with their work. This is the highest toll since Israel withdrew in 2005.”
The latest victim is head of the Saja News Agency, Hamada Khaled Makat, who was killed by an Israeli air strike in northern Gaza City. According to the Palestinian Journalists’ Union, Makat was killed just outside his home at dawn after going outside to cover the air strikes.
Two other Palestinian journalists died on August 2nd, also as a result of Israeli air strikes, RWB stated.
“One was Mohamed Noureddin Al-Dairi, 26, a photographer with the Palestinian Network for Journalism and Media, who died from the injuries he received while covering an air raid on Shuja’eyya market on 30 July. He was not pulled from the rubble until two days after the raid. The overall death toll from the raid on the Shuja’eyya neighborhood was 17 civilians, including three journalists.”
The other media fatality on August 2nd was freelance journalist Shadi Hamdi Ayad, age 24, killed in his home by an Israeli air strike on the neighborhood of Al-Zaytoun, in southeastern Gaza City.
His father was also killed, according to the report.
Abdullah Nasr Fahjan, 21, a sports journalist with Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV, was killed on August 1st, during the Israeli bombing of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.
“Whether these journalists and media workers were killed in indiscriminate air raids or were deliberately targeted, their deaths should be independently investigated and those responsible should be identified,” said RWB assistant research director Virginie Dangles, in response to the news.
“Journalists should not be targeted by belligerents, who must respect the Geneva Conventions and their additional protocols, as well as UN Security Council Resolution 1738, adopted in 2006.”
Updated from: 9 Palestinian Journalists Killed Since July 7
