Gaza radio director killed, journalist death toll breaches 160
Palestinian journalist Mohammed Abdullah Mashmash — programme director at Al-Aqsa Voice Radio — died in an Israeli strike on July 16th, raising the war’s media worker death toll above 160, The New Arab and agencies reported.
Mashamash was killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting the UN-run Al-Razi school in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp. Israel has targeted several schools-turned-shelters in the past week and a half, leaving a total of 44 Palestinians dead and 99 injured.
Several of Mashmash’s colleagues at the network were also killed in Israeli strikes since October 7th, including Yahya Abu Manih and Duaa Sharaf.
On December 21st, the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) declared Gaza the most dangerous place in the world for journalists, with more media workers killed in a single location in one year.
READ: Al Jazeera journalist had “no choice but to surrender” to IDF
Israel has repeatedly been accused of targeting journalists throughout the war. On May 5th, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu moved forward in shutting down Al Jazeera’s offices in the country, after claiming the network posed a security threat.
“The background of this decision is not professional or journalistic,” said Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Israel and the Palestinian territories Waleed Omari at the time, “it’s political.”
The same day as Mashmash’s death, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate revealed that Israeli forces committed 491 violations against media personnel in Gaza and the West Bank in the first half of the year, adding that at least 50 journalists remain in Israeli custody.
“We ask God Almighty for all our fellow martyred journalists to have mercy, acceptance and paradise upon them,” said Gaza’s government office, “as well as patience and solace for their families and the Palestinian journalism community.”
The New Arab and agencies
