‘I’m afraid to go out for a movie’: Gaza journalists say the ceasefire has not made their work any easier
Warning: This story contains images of dead bodies, one of which is covered in a bloody cloth.
Two NGO vehicles patrolled the northern Gaza Strip last week, arriving in an open area not far from the Mediterranean Sea. A photographer sent a drone to record a nearby refugee camp.
Moments later, an Israeli airstrike targeted the car, witnesses said, leaving it a scrap of metal.
Three freelance photographers have died, the latest in a long line of Palestinian journalists killed in Israel’s war in Gaza.
The Committee to Protect Journalists calls the site “the deadliest place for journalists in recent history,” deadlier than “any other conflict, anywhere in the world,” said the group’s Jodie Ginsberg.
In a press release on the latest death, the Israeli military said it had identified potential threats to its forces. They were using “a drone linked to Hamas,” it said, without providing evidence of links to the terrorist group.
‘We are facing real dangers here’
The funeral of the three – Mohammed Salah Qashta, 36, Abdul Raouf Sha’at, 34, and Anas Ghneim, 25 – was as emotional as it was familiar to many Palestinian journalists. The procession had gone before, carrying white-shrouded corpses accompanied by each victim’s bulletproof vest, marked “PRESS.”
Since most of the foreign media outlets are outsourced by Israel outside of Gaza, freelancers in the area are bearing the brunt of it. Many work for international news organizations, including CBC News.
“We are facing real dangers here, and they come to us without warning,” said journalist Ahmed al-Batta.
Shams Shana’a, one of the mourners. echoed. his colleague’s comment.
“As a journalist, I’m afraid to go out and record,” he said. “I’m afraid that the Israelis will target me too, because they don’t want the world to see their crimes here.”
Despite the ceasefire, Israeli airstrikes continue to hit Gaza. Last week, separate strikes killed more than 10 people, including three journalists, according to Palestinian health officials.
220 journalists have been killed by Israeli fire so far
Three photographers were accompanying the Egyptian Relief Committee, who were brought in to cover the camps of this group of exiles.
“The Israeli army attacked the car,” said Mohammed Mansour, a spokesman for the aid committee. Both of these vehicles, he said, were clearly marked as utility vehicles.
Their family members and associates deny that they have any connection with Hamas.
About 220 journalists have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since October 7, 2023, according to the international press organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the death of the European Union called “totally unacceptable”.
Canada has joined other countries seeking protection journalists in Gaza.
One of the worst attacks, called the double tap strike on a hospital in southern Gaza last August 25, killed five journalists.
The Israeli military says that many of the journalists who went to Gaza were “terrorists” affiliated with Palestinian terrorist groups, which their colleagues deny.
The latest strike ‘may be indicative,’ the media group said
Journalists are among the more than 71,400 Palestinians killed during Israel’s offensive on Gaza, according to figures provided by Palestinian officials, which stemmed from a 2023 Hamas-led offensive in southern Israel that killed about 1,200, according to Israeli figures.
More than 460 Palestinians have died in Gaza since a ceasefire began in October and Israel says three of its soldiers were killed during that time.
This latest strike by unidentified journalists “could demonstrate targeting and committing war crimes,” said Martin Roux, head of RSF’s crisis desk.
Fighting has eased since a shaky deal went into effect in October, giving Palestinian journalists more protection, but it is not over. And Israel continues to control Gaza militarily, conducting regular strikes against targets it deems dangerous.
The slain journalist had just gotten married
The second phase of the US President Donald Trump’s peace plan is starting to work, as Rafah in the south of Egypt will be opened this week. However, Israel has been reluctant to implement its side of the deal, and to make the army withdraw, until Hamas terrorists lay down their arms.
Gaza is in dire straits, still a land of rubble and tent cities for some two million displaced Palestinians.
An old woman sits crying and praying next to the white tent, where Shaat lived with his wife, Rozan Shaat, 25, before he was killed in the latest airstrike. He was a photojournalist for the French news agency AFP – he got married just this month.
“Please don’t forget Abdul,” said his mother, Umm Abd Sha’at. “I don’t know how I will live without him. Who will help me?”
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said in a social media post on Wednesday that the ceasefire agreement is entering a phase focused on destroying Gaza, establishing a technical government and reconstruction. However, Witkoff did not provide details about the new Palestinian interim administration that will govern Gaza.
