Family members of Al Jazeera Gaza Bureau chief die in IDF bombing
The “wife, teenage son, daughter and grandson, and eight other members” of Al Jazeera bureau chief Wael al-Dahdouh died Wednesday in an Israeli air strike on the the Nuseirat refugee camp in southern Gaza. The Israeli military said in a statement it had “targeted Hamas terrorist infrastructure in the area” without elaborating.
In its statement, the Israel Defense Forces also said it had “been targeting military targets across the Gaza Strip. Strikes on military targets are subject to relevant provisions of international law, including the taking of feasible precautions to mitigate civilian casualties.”
The journalist’s family had relocated south to an area the Israeli military had designated a safe zone.
On October 13, the Israeli Defense Force issued a statement for Gazan civilians to “evacuate south for your own safety and the safety of your families”:
“The IDF calls for the evacuation of all civilians of Gaza City from their homes southwards for their own safety and protection and move to the area south of the Wadi Gaza, as shown on the map.”
Washington Post again:
On Wednesday, Al Jazeera broadcast video of Dahdouh in his press vest walking through the halls of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, blinking back tears and flanked by other members of the press who held and guided him. He was brought to a tent filled with body bags, including that of his son. In the footage, he looked down, threw up his arms and crouched down to embrace the dead body of his son Mahmoud.
“You take your revenge by killing our kids?” Dahdouh said, weeping and touching the face of his son, in a video published by Al Jazeera. His son wanted to be a journalist like his father, the outlet reported.
Other images and footage showed him holding up the body of his 7-year-old daughter, Sham, whose face was bloodied.
Some of Dahdouh’s other family members are being treated in the hospital, Al Jazeera reported, adding that his son Yehia underwent an emergency procedure in a hospital corridor.
Al Jazeera journalists broke down on air while reporting their colleague’s loss.
Dahdouh has covered Gaza for two decades, per Marwan Bishara, a senior Al Jazeera political analyst.
“Listening to him, you would expect a man so angry to be cursing, but he’s not,” Bishara said. “His revenge is to tell the truth.”
Looking shocked, Dahdouh spoke to Al Jazeera on his way out of the hospital: “What happened is clear. This is a series of targeted attacks on children, women and civilians. I was just reporting from Yarmouk about such an attack, and the Israeli raids have targeted many areas, including Nuseirat.
“We had our doubts that the Israeli occupation would not let these people go without punishing them. And sadly, that is what happened. This is the ‘safe’ area that the occupation army spoke of.”
In May, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned (in the words of a press statement) that “the world is failing to live up to its commitments to protect civilians in armed conflict.” Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), cautioned in the statement’s wording that “all parties engaged in urban warfare must prioritize civilian protection, avoid the use of heavy explosive weapons in populated areas and ensure essential services.”
Bombings are occurring all across Gaza including farther south of Wadi Gaza, per Al Jazeera/Associated Press:
An air strike on a four-storey building in Khan Younis killed at least 32 people, including 13 members of the Saqallah family, Ammar al-Butta, a relative who survived the attack, told the AP. He said about 100 people were sheltering in the building, including many who had evacuated from Gaza City.
“We thought that our area would be safe,” he said.
Reuters headline: Gaza families wear ID bracelets to avoid burial in mass graves
Ali El-Daba, 40, said he had seen bodies ripped apart by the bombing and were unrecognisable.
He said he decided to divide his family to prevent them from all dying in a single strike. He said his wife Lina, 42, kept two of their sons and two daughters in Gaza City in the north and he moved to Khan Younis in the south with three other children.
El-Daba said he was preparing for the worst. He bought blue string bracelets for his family members and tied them around both wrists. “If something happens,” he said, “this way I will recognise them.”
Other Palestinian families were also buying or making bracelets for their children or writing their names on their arms.
That’s it. That’s all I’ve got. How’s your morning going?
Update: Fixed headline. Duh.