Hamza Dahdouh, the eldest son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh, has been killed by an Israeli missile strike in western Gaza’s Khan Younis.
Journalist Mustafa Thuraya was also killed in the attack when the vehicle they were traveling in near al-Mawasi, a supposedly safe area to the southwest, was hit by a missile. A third passenger, Hazem Rajab, was seriously injured.
According to reports from Al Jazeera correspondents, Hamza and Mustafa’s vehicle was hit as they were trying to interview civilians displaced by previous bombings.
Hamza, 27, was a journalist like his father. Mustafa was also 20 years old.
Speaking from the cemetery where his son was killed, Wael sounded subdued but resigned, saying that today he was one of many people in Gaza, saying bittersweet goodbyes to their loved ones every day.
He vowed to continue on his path to show the world what is happening in Gaza, despite the pain of a loss.
“Hamza was everything to me, the oldest boy, he was the soul of my soul… these are tears of separation and loss, tears of humanity,” he said.
Al Jazeera Media Network strongly condemned the attack, adding: “The killings of Mustafa and Hamza… while on their way to perform their duty in the Gaza Strip, reaffirms the need to take immediate and necessary legal action against the occupying forces. Ensure that there is no impunity.”
Responding to the news, the Gaza media condemned the killing of the two journalists, denouncing “this heinous crime in the strongest terms”.
Constant pain
Hamza was very close to his family and was devastated when he learned on October 25 that an Israeli attack had hit the house where his family was sheltering in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
He soon found out about his mother Amna, brother Mahmoud, 15, sister Sham, 7, and nephew Adam, 1. He was killed in the Israeli attack. His grief after their loss seemed to have spurred him to do more work covering the war in Gaza, according to his colleague.
As news of Hamza’s murder spread, his wife of a year went to the cemetery, like his surviving siblings, to take a last look before he was buried.
Wael stood by his son’s head, comforting the rest of his family as they tried to come to terms with the sudden loss.
His calmness and strength have made Wael Dahdouh much more than the Al Jazeera Arab bureau chief in Gaza. He is the face of Israel’s reporting of the war on Gaza and a symbol of the resilience of the people of Gaza.
When he lost his wife, son, daughter and granddaughter in an Israeli airstrike at the end of October, the world watched, horrified, as he rushed to the hospital where the bodies of his four friends were taken.
After saying an emotional goodbye to his children, grandchildren and life partners, he also seemed more determined than ever to fulfill his work.
Then, in mid-December, he was seriously injured in an attack He killed his colleague Samer Abudaqabut he was out again and soon after he was covering the news.
The Palestinian Journalists’ Union has documented that 102 journalists have been killed and 71 injured by Israeli forces since hostilities began.
The list of Al Jazeera journalists and staff who have lost family members or died themselves is also growing.
In December, Anas al-Sharif he lost his father His family home in Jabalia was hit by an Israeli airstrike.
A few days earlier, on December 6, Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Moamen Al Sharafi had it 22 members of his family were killed When an Israeli attack hit the house they were sheltering in the Jabalia refugee camp.
In late October, broadcast engineer Mohamed Abu Al-Qumsan he lost 19 members of his familyincluding his father and two sisters, in airstrikes in the same Israeli refugee camp.
