Al Jazeera Journalist’s Family Killed in Israeli Attack in Gaza

Three family members of Wael Al-Dahdouh, bureau chief of Al Jazeera Arabic in Gaza, were killed Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike, Palestinian medical and security sources reported.

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An Israeli strike on two houses in the Nuseirat refugee camp killed several people, including Al-Dahdouh's wife, his 15-year-old son, seven-year-old daughter and grandson.

The Arab television network Al-Jazeera denounced the attack in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, where the family had taken refuge after being displaced by shelling in their neighborhood.

The media network expressed its condolences in a statement, "Al Jazeera media network expresses its sincere condolences and sympathy to our colleague Weal Al-Dahdouh on the loss of his family in an Israeli airstrike." 

"Al Jazeera is deeply concerned for the safety and well-being of our colleagues in Gaza and holds the Israeli authorities responsible for their safety," it added. It also condemned in the strongest terms the indiscriminate attacks and killings of innocent civilians in Gaza and urged the international community to intervene to put an end to the current escalation.

The Hamas-run Gaza Interior Ministry said that the Al-Dahdouh family, despite being forced to relocate to the southern Gaza Strip in search of safety, was targeted. The move came after Israel ordered the evacuation of one million people to the southern part of the besieged enclave on October 13.

Footage from Al Jazeera English news channel shows Al-Dahdouh entering a hospital with her grandson in her arms, then weeping next to the bodies of her youngest children.

The channel's editor-in-chief, Mohamed Moawad, said via social network X that "Wael received the news while covering live the relentless Israeli attacks on Gaza."

According to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, 24 journalists have been killed, some with their families, and dozens more injured since the start of Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, infiltrating into Israeli territory, to which Israel retaliated with massive airstrikes and a siege of the enclave with cuts to water supplies, electricity, fuel and other necessities.

In the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at least 6,546 Palestinians have been killed so far in the Gaza Strip and 17,439 have been injured. In Israel, some 1,400 people have been killed.