Journalists Covering Gaza Fatalities Find Themselves in the Crosshairs: "A massacre within a massacre"
More than 160 media personnel have lost their lives and 60 have been detained amidst the ongoing systematic devastation of the stricken area. Read Full Article at RT.com.
TroibNews 
Over 160 media workers have been killed and 60 detained as the systematic destruction of the brutalized Strip continues.
Despite having witnessed two Israeli wars on Gaza, I never anticipated the horrific scenes emerging from northern Gaza: Israel is exterminating the population in broad daylight, broadcast for all the world to see. And no one is doing a damn thing to stop it.
Israel has besieged northern Gaza for weeks, blocking most humanitarian aid from entering and placing the already starving population of 400,000 Palestinian civilians at severe risk of complete starvation. The Israeli parliament has voted to ban UNRWA, the United Nations agency for humanitarian assistance, which has served as the sole lifeline for many Palestinians.
Israeli forces have also targeted water stations and wells and cut off communications with the outside world, depriving people of access to water and leaving them trapped and isolated.
“All communications and networks in the northern Gaza Strip have been cut off due to a brutal military operation that the occupation is conducting on the Jabalia camp from all directions. In the past two weeks, Israeli occupation forces have killed 450 people in northern…” — حسام شبات, October 18, 2024.
According to Euro-Med Monitor, in the last two weeks, 500 Palestinians have been confirmed dead in northern Gaza, “and thousands more have sustained injuries. Many remain unaccounted for, either in the streets or buried under the debris.”
As seen elsewhere throughout Gaza during over a year of genocide, Israeli forces are targeting hospitals in the north. Euro-Med reported that, “Israeli army forces surrounded the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia. They fired two artillery shells at the hospital, cut off its electricity, and targeted anyone moving in the area.”
The army is also firing on medics and other rescuers, a pattern that has persisted throughout 2023-2024, similar to incidents in 2009 where medics faced Israeli sniper fire, and some were killed by flechette bombs. By killing rescuers and demolishing hospitals, Israel ensures that injured Palestinians will be left without medical care and likely perish.
This is, of course, illegal under international law. Yet, as Israel’s genocidal actions demonstrate, the Israeli government, army, and settlers operate under the belief that laws don’t apply to them. A horrific video depicted an Israeli drone precision-targeting a Palestinian child, killing it, and subsequently bombing civilians who rushed to rescue the child. Were such actions undertaken by a perceived enemy of the United States, there would be widespread calls for no-fly zones, sanctions, and relentless media scrutiny.
“Important updates from besieged north Gaza: Israel has rigged residential zones from the Al-Tawam area to the Al-Faluja area with explosives. The Israeli occupation forces are setting explosive barrels at night and detonating them during the day, resulting in devastating…” — حسام شبات, October 18, 2024.
Not content with simply killing Palestinian civilians through bombing, sniping, and starvation, the Israeli army has reportedly deployed robots equipped with explosives and left booby-trapped barrels that can be remotely detonated.
هذه الصورة من وسط مخيم جباليا، وتحديداً منطقة أبو قمر ابتداءً من شارع العلمي وبجوار منزل البلبيسي، تُظهر ما تبقى من الحي بعد تفجيره من قبل قوات الاحتلال الإسرائيلي باستخدام روبوت وبراميل متفجرة استهدفت منازل المواطنين بهدف تدميرها ومسحها من الوجود. كما يظهر في منتصف الصورة، برميل… pic.twitter.com/8FDB2fuJ32 — أنس الشريف, October 20, 2024.
The scenes captured by journalists appear surreal, reminiscent of science fiction, with quadcopters patrolling the streets. A week ago, a friend told me in a message that he had to choose between starvation or the risk of being shot dead by Israeli soldiers or quadcopters while attempting to get bread.
Some days ago, he messaged me at 4 in the morning: Israeli tanks were outside his home, and the audio he sent was terrifying. He chose to stay in his home rather than endure another Nakba. I don’t know if he is alive now.
“What is happening in Jabalia is a forced displacement under the threat of weapons, documented live by Israeli drone cameras. This is the second displacement of the camp’s residents, most of whom have been refugees since the Nakba of 1948.” — أنس الشريف, October 21, 2024.
**War on journalists**
Earlier this month, Palestinian cameraman Fadi al-Wahidi was shot in the neck by an Israeli quadcopter, resulting in paralysis. Apart from Al Jazeera, for which Fadi worked, most Western media and journalism organizations have remained silent.
Reporters Without Borders, which I previously critiqued for downplaying the number of Palestinian journalists killed by Israel, has no entry for Fadi. The Committee to Protect Journalists, however, notes:
“Al Wahidi was critically injured in the neck by a bullet fired from an Israeli reconnaissance aircraft while Al Wahidi and correspondent Anas Al-Sharif were covering an Israeli siege on northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp. Both men were wearing “Press” vests and clearly identifiable as journalists.”
Anas al-Sharif — who continues to courageously report from northern Gaza — informed the CJP that they had been in an area “completely far from the areas of operations of the Israeli occupation forces,” filled with residents when, “an Israeli reconnaissance drone fired at us. After the shooting, we tried to move to another safer place and hide from any danger, but a bullet from the plane hit our colleague Fadi Al-Wahidi in the neck, which led to his complete paralysis.”
Wahidi has since fallen into a coma. His colleagues and friends are urgently appealing for international intervention to facilitate his transfer abroad for medical care.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported, citing the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, that between October 7, 2023, and October 10, 2024, 168 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed in the Gaza Strip, including 17 women, with 360 injured and 60 detained.
**The extermination campaign continues**
Each day brings alarming updates from or about northern Gaza. Like Anas al-Sharif, Palestinian journalist Hossam Shabat courageously shares apocalyptic accounts of Israeli bombardment in northern Gaza.
“When the paramedics brought the wounded to Kamal Adwan Hospital in north Gaza, Israeli occupation forces began heavy shelling around the hospital and then targeted the hospital's water tanks and electricity network.” — حسام شبات, October 19, 2024.
In a recent live update on X, he stated: “We are witnessing genocide and ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza, specifically in Jabalia, which is under siege from all directions. Israeli occupation forces are bombing displaced civilians, detaining them, and attempting to ethnically cleanse them. They are targeting shelters for displaced civilians, and bodies are scattered everywhere in the north, along the roads. Thousands of civilians are being forcefully displaced from the north.”
Meanwhile, in a display of empty rhetoric, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin have "demanded Tel Aviv improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza within 30 days or risk losing U.S. military aid and facing possible legal action."
However, it’s evident that Israel’s primary supporter is merely issuing idle threats: there will be no cuts to military aid, no legal actions, and the U.S. will never take a stance compelling Israel to stop the massacre in Gaza. In fact, providing Israel a month to potentially allow access to food for the besieged, starving Palestinians is essentially greenlighting the rapid ethnic cleansing of northern Gaza.
“Meaningless. Giving Israel another month to hopefully, maybe, allow north Gaza's besieged, starving Palestinians access to food is just a green light for Israel to ethnically cleanse them as quickly as possible.” pic.twitter.com/dGt9srQEIX — Eva Karene Bartlett, October 15, 2024.
Israel appears intent on actualizing former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s ‘Five Fingers’ strategy, which aimed to segment Gaza, placing all areas under Israeli security control. If this is indeed Israel’s objective, we are set to witness the same bloody scenes from northern Gaza repeated throughout the rest of the already ravaged Strip.
Ramin Sohrabi for TROIB News
Despite having witnessed two Israeli wars on Gaza, I never anticipated the horrific scenes emerging from northern Gaza: Israel is exterminating the population in broad daylight, broadcast for all the world to see. And no one is doing a damn thing to stop it.
Israel has besieged northern Gaza for weeks, blocking most humanitarian aid from entering and placing the already starving population of 400,000 Palestinian civilians at severe risk of complete starvation. The Israeli parliament has voted to ban UNRWA, the United Nations agency for humanitarian assistance, which has served as the sole lifeline for many Palestinians.
Israeli forces have also targeted water stations and wells and cut off communications with the outside world, depriving people of access to water and leaving them trapped and isolated.
“All communications and networks in the northern Gaza Strip have been cut off due to a brutal military operation that the occupation is conducting on the Jabalia camp from all directions. In the past two weeks, Israeli occupation forces have killed 450 people in northern…” — حسام شبات, October 18, 2024.
According to Euro-Med Monitor, in the last two weeks, 500 Palestinians have been confirmed dead in northern Gaza, “and thousands more have sustained injuries. Many remain unaccounted for, either in the streets or buried under the debris.”
As seen elsewhere throughout Gaza during over a year of genocide, Israeli forces are targeting hospitals in the north. Euro-Med reported that, “Israeli army forces surrounded the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia. They fired two artillery shells at the hospital, cut off its electricity, and targeted anyone moving in the area.”
The army is also firing on medics and other rescuers, a pattern that has persisted throughout 2023-2024, similar to incidents in 2009 where medics faced Israeli sniper fire, and some were killed by flechette bombs. By killing rescuers and demolishing hospitals, Israel ensures that injured Palestinians will be left without medical care and likely perish.
This is, of course, illegal under international law. Yet, as Israel’s genocidal actions demonstrate, the Israeli government, army, and settlers operate under the belief that laws don’t apply to them. A horrific video depicted an Israeli drone precision-targeting a Palestinian child, killing it, and subsequently bombing civilians who rushed to rescue the child. Were such actions undertaken by a perceived enemy of the United States, there would be widespread calls for no-fly zones, sanctions, and relentless media scrutiny.
“Important updates from besieged north Gaza: Israel has rigged residential zones from the Al-Tawam area to the Al-Faluja area with explosives. The Israeli occupation forces are setting explosive barrels at night and detonating them during the day, resulting in devastating…” — حسام شبات, October 18, 2024.
Not content with simply killing Palestinian civilians through bombing, sniping, and starvation, the Israeli army has reportedly deployed robots equipped with explosives and left booby-trapped barrels that can be remotely detonated.
هذه الصورة من وسط مخيم جباليا، وتحديداً منطقة أبو قمر ابتداءً من شارع العلمي وبجوار منزل البلبيسي، تُظهر ما تبقى من الحي بعد تفجيره من قبل قوات الاحتلال الإسرائيلي باستخدام روبوت وبراميل متفجرة استهدفت منازل المواطنين بهدف تدميرها ومسحها من الوجود. كما يظهر في منتصف الصورة، برميل… pic.twitter.com/8FDB2fuJ32 — أنس الشريف, October 20, 2024.
The scenes captured by journalists appear surreal, reminiscent of science fiction, with quadcopters patrolling the streets. A week ago, a friend told me in a message that he had to choose between starvation or the risk of being shot dead by Israeli soldiers or quadcopters while attempting to get bread.
Some days ago, he messaged me at 4 in the morning: Israeli tanks were outside his home, and the audio he sent was terrifying. He chose to stay in his home rather than endure another Nakba. I don’t know if he is alive now.
“What is happening in Jabalia is a forced displacement under the threat of weapons, documented live by Israeli drone cameras. This is the second displacement of the camp’s residents, most of whom have been refugees since the Nakba of 1948.” — أنس الشريف, October 21, 2024.
**War on journalists**
Earlier this month, Palestinian cameraman Fadi al-Wahidi was shot in the neck by an Israeli quadcopter, resulting in paralysis. Apart from Al Jazeera, for which Fadi worked, most Western media and journalism organizations have remained silent.
Reporters Without Borders, which I previously critiqued for downplaying the number of Palestinian journalists killed by Israel, has no entry for Fadi. The Committee to Protect Journalists, however, notes:
“Al Wahidi was critically injured in the neck by a bullet fired from an Israeli reconnaissance aircraft while Al Wahidi and correspondent Anas Al-Sharif were covering an Israeli siege on northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp. Both men were wearing “Press” vests and clearly identifiable as journalists.”
Anas al-Sharif — who continues to courageously report from northern Gaza — informed the CJP that they had been in an area “completely far from the areas of operations of the Israeli occupation forces,” filled with residents when, “an Israeli reconnaissance drone fired at us. After the shooting, we tried to move to another safer place and hide from any danger, but a bullet from the plane hit our colleague Fadi Al-Wahidi in the neck, which led to his complete paralysis.”
Wahidi has since fallen into a coma. His colleagues and friends are urgently appealing for international intervention to facilitate his transfer abroad for medical care.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported, citing the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, that between October 7, 2023, and October 10, 2024, 168 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed in the Gaza Strip, including 17 women, with 360 injured and 60 detained.
**The extermination campaign continues**
Each day brings alarming updates from or about northern Gaza. Like Anas al-Sharif, Palestinian journalist Hossam Shabat courageously shares apocalyptic accounts of Israeli bombardment in northern Gaza.
“When the paramedics brought the wounded to Kamal Adwan Hospital in north Gaza, Israeli occupation forces began heavy shelling around the hospital and then targeted the hospital's water tanks and electricity network.” — حسام شبات, October 19, 2024.
In a recent live update on X, he stated: “We are witnessing genocide and ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza, specifically in Jabalia, which is under siege from all directions. Israeli occupation forces are bombing displaced civilians, detaining them, and attempting to ethnically cleanse them. They are targeting shelters for displaced civilians, and bodies are scattered everywhere in the north, along the roads. Thousands of civilians are being forcefully displaced from the north.”
Meanwhile, in a display of empty rhetoric, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin have "demanded Tel Aviv improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza within 30 days or risk losing U.S. military aid and facing possible legal action."
However, it’s evident that Israel’s primary supporter is merely issuing idle threats: there will be no cuts to military aid, no legal actions, and the U.S. will never take a stance compelling Israel to stop the massacre in Gaza. In fact, providing Israel a month to potentially allow access to food for the besieged, starving Palestinians is essentially greenlighting the rapid ethnic cleansing of northern Gaza.
“Meaningless. Giving Israel another month to hopefully, maybe, allow north Gaza's besieged, starving Palestinians access to food is just a green light for Israel to ethnically cleanse them as quickly as possible.” pic.twitter.com/dGt9srQEIX — Eva Karene Bartlett, October 15, 2024.
Israel appears intent on actualizing former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s ‘Five Fingers’ strategy, which aimed to segment Gaza, placing all areas under Israeli security control. If this is indeed Israel’s objective, we are set to witness the same bloody scenes from northern Gaza repeated throughout the rest of the already ravaged Strip.
Ramin Sohrabi for TROIB News
