Israel kills Al Jazeera journalists in drone strike

A crowd of mourners pray over a body, wrapped in a white shroud, with a damaged press jacket and an Al Jazeera microphone placed on top. — Colleagues and other mourners prayed over the bodies of Al Jazeera journalists Ismail al-Ghoul and cameraman Rami al-Rifi, who were killed in an Israeli drone strike in Gaza City on 31 July.
Hadi Daoud APA images

Al Jazeera journalist Ismail al-Ghoul and his cameraman Rami al-Rifi were killed in an Israeli drone strike on their vehicle on Wednesday.

The network called it a “targeted assassination.”

They were killed just minutes after they reported from the rubble of Ismail Haniyeh’s home in Beach refugee camp in Gaza City, where they were covering the response by the local community to Haniyeh’s assassination in Tehran earlier in the day.

According to Al Jazeera, after their broadcast ended, al-Ghoul and al-Rifi were advised to leave the area. Their car was clearly marked as a press vehicle, and the reporters wore their protective vests while they drove.

An Israeli drone fired on the car, instantly killing the journalists. Gruesome photos and videos circulated showing that the blast completely decapitated al-Ghoul.

Israel has killed 165 journalists in Gaza since its genocide began in October, according to the government media office in the enclave.

Hind Khoudary, al-Ghoul’s colleague at Al Jazeera, broke down in tears during a live broadcast from southern Gaza following the news of his assassination.

She explained that al-Ghoul had been separated from his family, including his young daughter. He decided to stay in northern Gaza to report but “was counting the days until he could reunite with his family,” Khoudary said.

She described Israel’s repeated and unpunished targeting of Palestinian reporters, including the May 2022 murder of her colleague Shireen Abu Akleh in the occupied West Bank.

“We do everything, we wear our press jackets, we wear our helmets, we try to not go to anywhere where it’s not safe, we try to go anywhere [to] keep our security, but we have been targeted in normal places where normal citizens are,” she said.

“At the same time, we want to report, we want to tell the world what’s going on. It’s heartbreaking to report this today.”

Israel’s drone strike also killed a teenage boy who was riding his bicycle nearby.

A 17-year-old boy, Khaled Saed al-Shawa, was bringing food to an older man and his disabled son, according to his mother who spoke to Al Jazeera.

“He was a passerby and did not do anything [to the Israelis]. Why did they kill him?” his mother said.

Covering the massacres

Ismail al-Ghoul, only 27 years old, had covered some of the most grisly atrocities carried out by the Israeli army over the last 10 months.

In late February, he reported from the site of a massacre of more than 100 Palestinians after Israeli forces opened fire on people attempting to receive food aid in Gaza City.

While documenting the invasion and siege of al-Shifa hospital in March, al-Ghoul was abducted by Israeli soldiers, beaten, stripped naked, blindfolded and interrogated along with other journalists. He was held for 12 hours and then released.

After his release, he spoke about the responsibility of journalists to “convey the pain” of those on whom they report.

No outrage from Western media

On Thursday, the Israeli army gloated about the assassination, smearing al-Ghoul as a “terrorist” and claiming that he was part of Hamas’ military wing.

The executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, saying that the organization was merely “dismayed” by the killing of al-Ghoul and al-Rifi, called on Israel to “explain why two more Al Jazeera journalists have been killed in what appears to be a direct strike.”

Some Western corporate media outlets reported on the killings, but others continued to provide linguistic cover for Israel.

Other high-level journalists ignored the assassinations of their colleagues completely.

Palestinian journalists excoriated the international press for staying silent after the repeated murders of their colleagues by Israel.

The international media, “who have either remained silent or amplified the narrative of the oppressor during 9+ genocidal months in Palestine, should be ashamed,” stated Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the occupied Palestinian Territories.

Mourning

Palestinians are grieving the loss of their friend and colleague.

Mohamed Moawad, Al Jazeera’s managing editor, stated that al-Ghoul was “renowned for his professionalism and dedication, bringing the world’s attention to the suffering and atrocities committed in Gaza, especially in al-Shifa hospital and the northern neighborhoods.”

Without his reportage, Moawad added, “the world would not have seen the devastating images of these massacres.”