This Palestinian Journalist Moved His Wife And Children South But They Were All Still Killed By Israeli Airstrikes
The wife, seven-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son of Wael Dahdouh, Al Jazeera Arabic’s bureau chief in Gaza, were all killed by an Israeli air raid.
The immediate family of a Palestinian journalist has been killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.
The wife, seven-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son of Wael Dahdouh, Al Jazeera Arabic’s bureau chief in Gaza, were all killed by an Israeli air raid on Al Nuseirat refugee camp south of Wadi Gaza on Wednesday Oct. 25.
Dahdouh had moved his family from Gaza City to the refugee camp south, after Israel ordered Palestinians to evacuate south for their safety.
He remained behind to report on the cover Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, according to Al Jazeera.
However, his family were still killed in the “safe” area.
Dahdouh was seen crying and touching the face of his son, Mahmoud, and cradling the body of his daughter, Sham at the morgue at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah.
“What happened is clear. This is a series of targeted attacks on children, women and civilians,” Dahdouh said to reporter on his way out of the hospital. “I was just reporting from Yarmouk about such an attack, and the Israeli raids have targeted many areas, including Nuseirat.”
“We had our doubts that the Israeli occupation would not let these people go without punishing them. And sadly, that is what happened. This is the ‘safe’ area that the occupation army spoke of,” he said.
Two hours later, Dahdouh’s grandson was also declared dead.
Some members of his family, including a toddler granddaughter survived the attack at on the house at Nuseirat refugee camp.
“The indiscriminate assault by the Israeli occupation forces resulted in the tragic loss of [Dahdouh’s] wife, son and daughter, while the rest of his family is buried under the rubble,” Al Jazeera said in a statement.
“Their home was targeted in the Nuseirat camp in the centre of Gaza, where they had sought refuge after being displaced by the initial bombardment in their neighbourhood, following [Israeli] Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s call for all civilians to move south.”
“He didn’t leave Gaza City. He stayed despite all the threats and warnings and didn’t stop for 19 days in a row. He said, ‘I must be here in Gaza City to report about these people who are getting bombed every day’,” Youmna Elsayed, an Al Jazeera journalist said. “He didn’t give up on them. He didn’t want to leave.”
