Cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa had been with Dahdouh on Friday when the pair traveled to cowl Israel’s bombing of Farhana college in Khan Younis, which had been internet hosting displaced Palestinians.
However after they arrived, they have been hit by a drone strike, in accordance with Al Jazeera. Dahdouh managed to depart the realm because the bombardment continued, however Abu Daqqa couldn’t and desperately tried to crawl to security.
Ambulances tried to succeed in the realm, however the route was blocked by the rubble, and paramedics couldn’t get there because of the bombing. The community reported that three civil protection employees died whereas attempting to succeed in him over a interval of 5 hours.
“Samer continued to bleed for a number of hours, till the Civil Protection crew discovered him useless,” Al Jazeera English mentioned in an inside notice Friday. Abu Daqqa, 45, was a father of 4 and resident of Khan Younis, town he died protecting.
The conflict has taken a crushing toll on Gaza’s journalists. Earlier than with 56 killed because the starting of Israel’s assault on Hamas in October, in accordance with Reporters Without Borders. Some 13 of these have been killed whereas at work, whereas the others have been killed of their properties or going about their every day lives.
Al Jazeera mentioned that it “holds Israel accountable for systematically concentrating on and killing Al Jazeera journalists and their households” and urged the worldwide group to carry Israel accountable.
Abu Daqqa is the primary Al Jazeera journalist to die within the conflict. In October, Dahdouh misplaced 14 members of prolonged household, together with his spouse, Amna, his 15-year-old son Mahmoud and his 7-year-old daughter Sham, throughout an Israeli strike on the home through which they have been sheltering. His 1½-year-old grandson was additionally killed. He came upon concerning the bombing whereas stay on air.
“This can be a bloodbath for journalism and journalists engaged on the bottom,” Suruq As’advert, a spokeswoman of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate based mostly in West Financial institution. “They’re all locals. They’re focused and their environment are focused: family members, their neighborhoods, their cities, their mates, their places of work they usually go on to do their jobs as reporters, as digicam folks, as correspondents.”
She mentioned that the Al Jazeera staff was clearly marked as press after they traveled to cowl the bombing on the college, with markings on their automobile and security gear, accusing Israel of conflict crimes. The Israeli navy didn’t reply to a request for a remark.
The International Press Affiliation in Jerusalem mentioned that Abu Daqqa was it first member to be killed throughout the conflict, describing him as a “veteran cameraman.”
“We contemplate this a grave blow to the already restricted freedom of the press in Gaza and name on the military for a immediate investigation and clarification,” it mentioned. “The FPA repeatedly appealed to the Israeli navy, which mentioned it had accredited a bulldozer to clear the highway for an ambulance to succeed in Samer, however it seems it took hours for first responders to realize entry.”
Loay Ayyoub, a photographer who works with The Washington Submit, mentioned he’d develop into near Abu Daqqa throughout the conflict, as they frolicked collectively at al-Nasser hospital, the place the injured and the useless are endlessly ferried in.
Nonetheless, Abu Daqqa at all times managed to smile, he mentioned. “Everybody beloved him. On the finish of every work day, we’d sit till the daybreak hours and chat.”
He’d managed to get his household out of Gaza, Ayyoub mentioned. “He at all times instructed me, ‘There’s a safer place outdoors Gaza,’ ” he mentioned.
In an interview this week, Dahdouh, famend for his relentless protection of the conflict within the face of private tragedy, recounted his hardest second as a reporter.
“When a journalist turns into the information as a substitute of reporting it,” he instructed the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy, strapped into his blue press flak jacket as he referred to the devastating deaths of his relations. “And as a substitute of getting the picture and broadcasting it, he turns into the picture.”
Lower than 24 hours after he posted a clip of the interview on his Instagram feed, Dahdouh was a part of the story once more.
And the identical press vest was stained with blood.
Hazem Balousha in Amman, Miriam Berger in Jerusalem and Niha Masih contributed to this report.