The Government Media Office in the Gaza Strip announced on Monday that the number of journalists killed since October 7, 2023, has risen to 244, following the killing of four journalists in an Israeli airstrike targeting a group of journalists at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
اضافة اعلان
In a statement, the office said: “The number of martyred journalists has risen to 244 since the beginning of the genocide war on the Gaza Strip.”
It added that the latest victims were four journalists: Hussam Al-Masri, who worked with Reuters; Mohammed Salama, a photojournalist with Al Jazeera; Maryam Abu Daqa, who worked with several outlets including Independent Arabia and AP; and Muath Abu Taha, a journalist with the U.S.-based NBC network.
Palestine TV had previously reported that Hussam Al-Masri also worked as a photojournalist for the channel.
The office explained that the four journalists were killed in a “horrific crime” — an Israeli airstrike targeting a group of journalists who were on assignment at Nasser Hospital, resulting in multiple casualties.
It condemned the “deliberate targeting, killing, and assassination of Palestinian journalists by the occupation (Israel),” and called on Arab and international press unions to condemn “these systematic crimes against Gaza’s journalists and media workers.”
The office also urged the international community to exert real pressure “to stop the genocide and to protect journalists and media professionals in Gaza, and to stop the crime of killing and assassinating them.”
According to a medical source cited by Anadolu Agency, the Israeli strike on Nasser Medical Complex killed 14 Palestinians, including the four journalists and a firefighter vehicle driver from the Palestinian Civil Defense.
Anadolu’s correspondent reported that the Israeli army initially targeted a journalist on the upper floor of the emergency building at Nasser Medical Complex. Minutes later, as journalists gathered to cover the incident and Civil Defense crews attempted to rescue and recover victims, the army struck the area again, causing a high number of deaths and injuries.
Since the start of the genocide in Gaza, the Israeli military has deliberately targeted vital sectors and humanitarian workers, including hospitals, medical teams, journalists, and Civil Defense personnel, despite repeated international and European human rights calls to protect them.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel, with U.S. support, has been committing a genocide in Gaza, which has resulted in 62,686 Palestinian deaths, 157,951 injuries — the majority of whom are children and women — over 9,000 missing persons, hundreds of thousands displaced, and famine that has killed 300 Palestinians, including 117 children.
