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Qatar Press Center Condemns the Assassination of Four Journalists in Gaza

The Qatar Press Center strongly condemns the assassination of four journalists and the serious injury of others as a result of the Israeli occupation’s targeting of the journalists’ tent with a drone at the courtyard of Al-Ahli Hospital in central Gaza City. This brings the total number of journalists killed to 228 since the beginning of the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

The martyrs are: Suleiman Hajjaj, a journalist at Palestine Today TV; Ismail Baddah, a cameraman for the same channel; Samir Al-Rifai, a journalist for Shams News Agency; and Ahmad Qalaja, a cameraman for Al Araby TV, who succumbed to his injuries an hour later.

The Qatar Press Center affirms that Israel, which has continued its war of extermination against Gaza’s population since October 7, 2023, is committing systematic massacres against journalists and media workers by targeting their positions and homes, and assassinating them with missiles and drones to silence them and prevent the truth from being conveyed to the world, thereby promoting the Israeli narrative and falsehoods.

The Center reiterates its call to the international community, as well as UN, human rights, and media organizations, to condemn the targeting of journalists in Gaza and to act urgently to hold the Israeli occupation accountable before international courts for war crimes against journalists. The culture of impunity has emboldened Israeli occupation forces to continue assassinating, arresting, and terrorizing journalists in full view of the world.

The Center also calls on the international community to pressure Israel to release imprisoned journalists who are suffering harsh conditions that deprive them of their basic rights as detainees, rights guaranteed by international laws and conventions.

A Heinous Crime

The Palestinian Center for the Protection of Journalists condemned “the heinous crime committed by the Israeli army” at Al-Ahli Hospital, and called on the international community and the United Nations to act immediately to stop the policy of targeting and killing Palestinian journalists and to prevent the use of military force to obstruct their work.

The head of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, Nasser Abu Bakr, confirmed that the occupation committed a massacre that claimed the lives of four journalists at Al-Ahli Hospital, stressing that Gaza is witnessing the largest massacre of journalists in history.

Abu Bakr also stated that 115 media institutions in Gaza have been destroyed since the beginning of the aggression on October 7, 2023.

The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) documented 119 Israeli violations against journalists in the occupied Palestinian territories during May — a significant increase from the previous month.

These rising numbers reflect the systematic increase in Israeli violations against Palestinian journalists across the occupied territories, as the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate documented around 80 violations in April alone.