Al-Jazeera says two of its journalists killed in Israeli strike in Gaza

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Two Al-Jazeera reporters were killed in an Israeli strike in northern Gaza on Wednesday, the satellite news network said, the latest Palestinian journalists working with the Qatari network to be killed in the war-torn enclave.

Correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul, 27, cameraman Rami al-Rifi and a child who was not identified were killed in a blast that struck a car in Gaza City that the three were traveling in, according to the network and the Emergency and Ambulance Service, which helps recover and transport casualties to hospitals across Gaza.

The two journalists had been reporting together at the Shati Refugee Camp, the birthplace of slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh who was killed in a strike in the early hours of the day in the Iranian capital, Tehran. Haniyeh had attended the swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday for Masoud Pezeshkian, the new president of Iran, a Hamas ally.

The latest journalism deaths bring the number of journalists killed in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last October to 111, including 106 Palestinians, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists which tally’s the casualties. The other five journalists killed are two Lebanese and three Israelis.

The bodies of the two Al-Jazeera journalists were taken to the nearby al-Ahli hospital from where their Al-Jazeera colleague, Anas al-Sharif, went on air in a phone interview with the channel. No information about the slain child was immediately available.

The Israeli army did not immediately comment on the strike.

United Nations spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric called for a full investigation and accountability for the killings of the Al-Jazeera journalists and others, saying that journalists everywhere need to be protected.

The Palestinian Journalist Syndicate and Hamas both accused Israel of assassinating the two journalists.

The Israeli government closed Al-Jazeera offices in Israel in May, based on a new law that enables it to close down media outlets it says are a security threat and incite against Israeli troops. The Israeli government says the network has close ties to Hamas — a claim Al-Jazeera denies — as many of the militant group’s leading officials are based in the Qatari capital.

Throughout the latest Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, now in its tenth month, the openly pro-Palestinian Al-Jazeera has accused Israel of targeting its journalists.

In December, Samer Abudaqa, one of the network’s cameramen was killed in a strike. Wael Dahdouh, the outlet’s bureau chief in Gaza, was reporting in late October when he received word on air that his wife, daughter, a son and grandchild were killed in an Israeli airstrike. In January, a strike killed another of his sons, who was also working for Al-Jazeera.

Jack Jeffery, The Associated Press