Gaza – The Israeli occupation army assassinated Al Jazeera’s cameraman in the Gaza Strip, Samer Abu Daqqa, using a drone missile during his coverage of the bombing of Farahana School in Khan Younis, south of the Strip. The channel’s correspondent Wael Al-Dahdouh was also wounded in the attack. Additionally, three civil defense men were martyred while trying to rescue Abu Daqqa. The Israeli forces deliberately hindered the ambulance teams’ access to him, and he was left bleeding for about 6 hours until he died as a martyr, joining the constellation of martyred journalists, which includes 89 journalists who were killed by Israeli fire since the outbreak of the war on October 7.
Al Jazeera network charged Israel with “full responsibility for this heinous crime” in a statement, and for the systematic targeting of its workers and their families, calling on the international community, organizations defending journalists, and the International Criminal Court to take action to hold the occupation accountable. After being targeted, the martyred Abu Daqqa was seriously injured and trapped near the school, unable to receive timely aid or evacuation, while his colleague Al-Dahdouh managed to walk hundreds of meters with his wounds to reach the nearest ambulance.
Al-Dahdouh, in his testimony about the crime, stated that they were targeted after accompanying an ambulance that was coordinated to evacuate a trapped family. They documented the extensive destruction from the Israeli bombings and managed to access areas that no camera had reached before. Even emergency and ambulance services had not reached these locations until then. On his return journey, Al-Dahdouh recounts a sudden, impactful event that threw him to the ground, where he struggled to regain his strength and realized he was bleeding profusely from his shoulder and arm. Despite his injuries, he slowly made his way to the end of a street, where civil defense men assisted him. Upon requesting help for Samer, who was screaming, the medics told him that they had to leave due to the dire situation but would send another vehicle for Samer.
Samer Abu Daqqa was born in 1978 in the town of Absan al-Kabira, known for its residents’ expertise in agriculture. He was married and a father of three children and a daughter who currently reside with their mother in Belgium. Abu Daqqa had secured a family reunification agreement to join them in Belgium and was planning to travel after the cessation of the Israeli war on Gaza. Having joined Al Jazeera as a cameraman and editor in 2004, he was known to have good relationships with colleagues who were shocked by his tragic death.
His death has prompted a wide response on social media, with friends and colleagues posting tributes and praises. Journalists shared emotional videos showing Abu Daqqa grieving deeply with tears in his eyes for his colleague Mohammad Abu Hatb, an official Palestine TV correspondent who was martyred with his family in an airstrike that destroyed their house in Khan Younis.
There has been widespread condemnation of his assassination, with states, governments, Palestinian factions, and local and international journalistic and human rights bodies expressing their denunciation. Hamas extended condolences to the martyr’s family, Al Jazeera, and the journalistic community in Gaza, urging that the “new Nazi leaders of the entity” should be held responsible for their war crimes against the Palestinian people, including protected groups such as journalists and medical and humanitarian teams.
Gaza’s Government Media Office stated that the Israeli army had intentionally targeted the Al Jazeera crew for the fourth consecutive time. This action represents a complete crime in violation of international law. The office urged journalistic unions, media bodies, and legal entities to condemn this crime. Moreover, the statement highlighted that throughout the war on Gaza, 89 journalists have been killed by the Israeli army, with 8 others arrested and many more injured.
