Wael Al-Dahdouh: Al Jazeera journalist’s family killed in Gaza strike

Wael Al-Dahdouh: Al Jazeera journalist’s family killed in Gaza strike

  • Author: Kathryn Armstrong
  • BBC News

image source, Anadolu Agency

image caption, At least four members of Wael Al-Dahdouh’s (left) family were killed on Wednesday

The family of an Al Jazeera journalist has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, the network has confirmed.

Wael Al-Dahdouh’s wife, teenage son and young daughter were killed in a refugee camp in central Gaza on Wednesday, Al Jazeera reported in a statement.

Later, he reported that his grandson had also died.

Al Jazeera condemned the killings and Israel’s “indiscriminate attack”.

According to the news organization, Al-Dahdouh’s family was living in a house in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, displaced from northern Gaza after Israel warned residents to move south due to ongoing military action.

Fifteen-year-old Mahmoud was in his last year of high school, Al Jazeera said, his daughter, Sham, was seven and his grandson, Adam, was 18 months old.

Other relatives were said to be buried under the rubble, but some are known to have survived.

More on the Israel-Gaza war

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that it carried out an attack targeting Hamas in the area where members of Al-Dahdouh’s family were killed.

Asked by the BBC about the loss of civilians in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, including journalists and their families, IDF spokesman Lt Col Peter Lerner said “any loss of life is a tragedy”.

Pictures posted online showed Al-Dahdouh in tears at the hospital, holding what appeared to be the body of his seven-year-old daughter and kneeling over the body of his teenage son.

“There is no safe place at all in Gaza,” he said in an English translation of an interview with Al Jazeera.

Al-Dahdouh is Al Jazeera Arabic’s Gaza bureau chief and has worked for the news agency for several years.

image source, Anadolu Agency

image caption, About 7,000 people have died in Gaza since October 7, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.

Al Jazeera said it was “deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of our colleagues in Gaza and holding the Israeli authorities accountable for their safety.”

“We call on the international community to intervene and end these attacks on civilians, thereby protecting innocent lives.”

At least 24 journalists have been killed so far in the latest conflict between Israel and Gaza, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Gaza has been under constant military bombardment by Israel since a surprise attack by Hamas fighters on October 7, which killed more than 1,400 people. More than 200 people remain hostages.

Meanwhile, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says 7,000 people have died there. Israel has cut off the supply of fuel, electricity and most water to the territory. A little help is pouring in across Egypt.