The airstrike on the tent housing journalists in the grounds of Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis killed Hilmi al-Faqaawi, a social media manager for pro-Palestinian Islamic Jihad broadcaster Palestine Today TV, and injured the following journalists:

• Ahmed Mansour, Palestine Today news agency editor
• Ahmed Al-Agha, BBC Arabic contributor
• Mohammed Fayeq, freelance photojournalist and drone operator
• Abdullah Al-Attar, freelance photographer for Anadolu Agency
• Ihab Al-Bardini, camera operator contributing to U.S. channel ABC
• Mahmoud Awad, Al Jazeera camera operator
• Majed Qudaih, Radio Algerie correspondent
• Ali Eslayeh, photographer for West Bank-based site Alam24

The Israel Defense Forces said the strike targeted Hassan Eslayeh, a freelance photographer who was with Hamas on October 7, 2023. The IDF said Eslayeh, who was injured on April 7, 2025, was a “terrorist” who “participated in the bloody massacre.”

In 2023, the pro-Israeli watchdog HonestReporting published a photo of Eslayeh being kissed by then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, after which CNN, the Associated Press and Reuters news agencies cut ties with the journalist.

“This is not the first time Israel has targeted a tent sheltering journalists in Gaza. The international community’s failure to act has allowed these attacks on the press to continue with impunity, undermining efforts to hold perpetrators accountable,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa  Director Sara Qudah. “CPJ calls on authorities to allow the injured, some of whom have sustained severe burns, to be evacuated immediately for treatment and to stop attacking Gaza’s already devastated press corps.”

Footage verified by Reuters news agency showed people trying to douse flames in the tent while other images of someone trying to rescue a journalist in flames were widely shared online.

CPJ’s email to the IDF’s North America Media Desk to request comment did not receive an immediate response.

More than 170 journalists and media workers have been killed in the Israel-Gaza war.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

“German authorities must ensure the security guards working for the concert venue who insulted and beat Adonis Alkhaled are brought to justice,” said Attila Mong, CPJ’s Europe representative. “Journalists must be able to carry out their work without fear of verbal abuse, intimidation, or violence.”

On October 12, security guards made homophobic comments and derogatory remarks about DW while Alkhaled and a colleague were interviewing the Syrian musician Al Shami. After the journalists stopped the interview due to security concerns, a security guard pushed Alkhaled into a backyard and beat him several times. He was taken to hospital for emergency treatment.

Alkhaled has filed a criminal complaint. Al Shami’s press spokesperson told DW that the attack took place after their team had parted ways with the journalists and offered full cooperation with the investigation.

The Düsseldorf police press department confirmed in an email to CPJ that an investigation was underway but declined to give further details as it was ongoing.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

The statement also urged Egyptian authorities to drop all charges against the journalists, cease targeting them for their work, end the practice of concealing the status or location of those in custody, investigate allegations that at least two of the journalists were tortured or treated inhumanely, and hold those responsible accountable.

This new wave of arrests highlights the troubling record of Egyptian authorities in targeting journalists and independent media, underscoring why Egypt has remained among the top 10 jailers of journalists worldwide in recent years, according to CPJ data.

Read the full statement here.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

“By arresting journalists Khaled Mamdouh and Ashraf Omar and subjecting them to enforced disappearance, the Egyptian regime has once again demonstrated its shameful commitment to targeting journalists and violating their basic human rights,” said Yeganeh Rezaian, CPJ’s interim Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “It is time to break Egypt’s longstanding pattern and release Mamdouh and Omar, dropping all charges against them.”

Egyptian security forces have systematically used enforced disappearance—characterized as a state-sponsored arrest or abduction followed by a lack of acknowledgment of the person’s fate or whereabouts—to target journalists and human rights defenders, who are often mistreated prior to being presented for charges.

Security authorities arrested Omar early Monday morning at his apartment in the October Gardens neighborhood in Giza, and took him to an unknown location.

Human rights lawyer Mahienour El-Massry told Al-Manassa that she went to the Sixth of October Police Station, but they denied his presence or arrest. Al-Manassa and the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate called on the public prosecutor to reveal Omar’s whereabouts and any charges.

Security forces arrested Mamdouh at his home in Mokattam, a southern plateau in the capital, Cairo, on Tuesday, July 16, and confiscated his laptop. Security forces took Mamdouh to an undisclosed location, where he was forcibly disappeared for five days.

Security forces presented Mamdouh to prosecuting authorities on Sunday, where he was detained for 15 days pending investigation into charges of joining and funding a terrorist organization and spreading false news.

CPJ’s email to the Egyptian Ministry of Interior requesting comment on Mamdouh and Omar’s arrest and charges did not receive an immediate response.

Separately in June and July, the Egyptian Supreme State Security Prosecution repeatedly renewed the detention of freelance reporter Yasser Abu Al-Ela, pending an investigation into charges of joining a terrorist organization, committing a financing crime, and publishing false news.

Abu Al-Ela said at a June 15 meeting with the prosecution that during the 50 days of his enforced disappearance, he was subjected to “physical and psychological torture.” His wife, Naglaa Fathi, was detained and charged after filing several complaints with Egyptian authorities after her husband disappeared.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Al-Jazeera Arabic reporter Ismail Abu Omar and freelance camera operator and photojournalist Ahmed Matar were traveling by motorcycle in Miraj, north of Rafah, while reporting on displaced Palestinians in the area, when an Israeli drone strike hit them, according to media reports. Both journalists were wearing protective vests clearly marked “Press” and carrying their equipment, Al-Jazeera said.

Al-Jazeera said the journalists received emergency surgery at the European Hospital in Rafah. Abu Omar’s right foot and some fingers on his right hand were amputated, his left leg was severely injured, and pieces of shrapnel remained in his head and chest, the channel said. A photograph shared with CPJ via messaging app showed Matar in the hospital with injuries to his face.

“The Israeli drone strike that injured critically Al-Jazeera reporter Ismail Abu Omar and freelance camera operator and photojournalist Ahmed Matar is another horrific example of the high personal price that journalists in Gaza are paying to cover the war so that the world can witness what is happening,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator in Washington D.C. “We are deeply alarmed by this new attack and call for an independent investigation into whether the journalists were targeted, which constitutes a war crime.”

Al-Jazeera said in a statement that it believed the reporters were deliberately targeted, describing the incident as “a full-fledged crime added to Israel’s crimes against journalists, and a new part in the series of the deliberate targeting of Al Jazeera’s journalists and correspondents in Palestine.”

A video posted by Al-Jazeera Arabic, reviewed by CPJ, appeared to show Abu Omar, wearing a blue press vest, lying on the ground soon after the attack with severe leg injuries as people rushed to provide first aid. CPJ also reviewed photographs of the damaged motorcycle that were shared by the Palestinian newspaper Al-Hadath in a messaging app.

On February 9, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to prepare to evacuate Palestinian civilians from Rafah, which borders Egypt and is the last refuge for some 1.4 million displaced people who have fled attacks further north. The United States, United Nations, International Criminal Court, and humanitarians have spoken out against Israel’s planned assault on Rafah.

Since October 7, CPJ has documented 85 journalists and media workers killed while covering the war, including the killing by Israeli drone strikes of Al-Jazeera’s Samer Abu Daqqa on December 15, and of Hamza Al Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya on January 7. CPJ has called for independent investigations into the attacks.

On Monday, the Israeli cabinet approved a law that allows it to close Al-Jazeera in the country, according to news reports, a move that CPJ has previously spoken out against.

CPJ’s email to the North America Desk of the IDF seeking comment did not immediately receive a reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Al-Jazeera Arabic reporter Ismail Abu Omar and freelance camera operator and photojournalist Ahmed Matar were traveling by motorcycle in Miraj, north of Rafah, while reporting on displaced Palestinians in the area, when an Israeli drone strike hit them, according to media reports. Both journalists were wearing protective vests clearly marked “Press” and carrying their equipment, Al-Jazeera said.

Al-Jazeera said the journalists received emergency surgery at the European Hospital in Rafah. Abu Omar’s right foot and some fingers on his right hand were amputated, his left leg was severely injured, and pieces of shrapnel remained in his head and chest, the channel said. A photograph shared with CPJ via messaging app showed Matar in the hospital with injuries to his face.

“The Israeli drone strike that injured critically Al-Jazeera reporter Ismail Abu Omar and freelance camera operator and photojournalist Ahmed Matar is another horrific example of the high personal price that journalists in Gaza are paying to cover the war so that the world can witness what is happening,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator in Washington D.C. “We are deeply alarmed by this new attack and call for an independent investigation into whether the journalists were targeted, which constitutes a war crime.”

Al-Jazeera said in a statement that it believed the reporters were deliberately targeted, describing the incident as “a full-fledged crime added to Israel’s crimes against journalists, and a new part in the series of the deliberate targeting of Al Jazeera’s journalists and correspondents in Palestine.”

A video posted by Al-Jazeera Arabic, reviewed by CPJ, appeared to show Abu Omar, wearing a blue press vest, lying on the ground soon after the attack with severe leg injuries as people rushed to provide first aid. CPJ also reviewed photographs of the damaged motorcycle that were shared by the Palestinian newspaper Al-Hadath in a messaging app.

On February 9, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to prepare to evacuate Palestinian civilians from Rafah, which borders Egypt and is the last refuge for some 1.4 million displaced people who have fled attacks further north. The United States, United Nations, International Criminal Court, and humanitarians have spoken out against Israel’s planned assault on Rafah.

Since October 7, CPJ has documented 85 journalists and media workers killed while covering the war, including the killing by Israeli drone strikes of Al-Jazeera’s Samer Abu Daqqa on December 15, and of Hamza Al Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya on January 7. CPJ has called for independent investigations into the attacks.

On Monday, the Israeli cabinet approved a law that allows it to close Al-Jazeera in the country, according to news reports, a move that CPJ has previously spoken out against.

CPJ’s email to the North America Desk of the IDF seeking comment did not immediately receive a reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On December 15, Al Dahdouh and Abu Daqqa were covering the aftermath of the nightly Israeli strikes on a UN school sheltering displaced people in the center of Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, when they were wounded as a result of a missile launched from what is believed to be an Israeli drone, according to reports by their outlet and the Middle East Eye. Al-Jazeera urged the International Committee of the Red Cross to evacuate Abu Daqqa from the school to a nearby hospital for medical treatment. 

Al-Jazeera later announced that Abu Daqqa died, which was also reported by the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes.

In live coverage before his death, Al-Jazeera said Abu Daqqa wasn’t immediately evacuated from the school because he was trapped with other injured civilians. Al-Jazeera reporter Hisham Zaqqout said that Israeli forces were surrounding the school, and medics were unable to reach the hospital to evacuate wounded civilians, including Abu Daqqa.

“CPJ is deeply saddened and alarmed by a drone attack that injured Al-Jazeera journalist Wael Al Dahdouh and killed Samer Abu Daqqa in Khan Yunis, Gaza, and the pattern of attacks on Al-Jazeera journalists and their families,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna, from New York. “CPJ calls on international authorities to independently investigate the attack and hold those responsible to account.”

Many Gazans were taking refuge in the UNRWA-Khan Yunis school for girls, according to Al-Jazeera, which said the school was also hit by bombardment from Israeli tanks. Al-Jazeera aired footage of Al Dahdouh wearing his press vest and assured in its reporting that he was taking precautions and was identifiable as a member of the press.

Al Dahdouh was hit by shrapnel in his right hand and waist and transferred to Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis for treatment, videos shared by his outlet show. In videos at the hospital, Al Dahdouh continuously urged the evacuation of his colleague Abu Daqqa.

Israeli artillery is targeting the center of the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, where many Palestinians displaced from the central and northern parts of Gaza are sheltering, Al-Jazeera correspondents say. Clashes with Palestinian fighters are also ongoing as the Israeli military tries to enter the city, according to Al-Jazeera.

On October 25, Wael Al Dahdouh, Al-Jazeera’s bureau chief for Gaza, lost his wife, son, daughter, and grandson when an Israeli airstrike hit the Nuseirat refugee camp, according to a statement from Al-Jazeera and Politico. Other Al-Jazeera journalists have been injured or lost family members during the war, CPJ previously documented.

CPJ’s email to the North America Desk of the Israel Defense Forces did not immediately receive a response.

Since October 7, CPJ has documented dozens of journalists and media workers killed while covering the war.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On Monday, an Israeli airstrike hit Al-Sharif’s family home in the Jabalia refugee camp, killing the journalist’s 90-year-old father, according to Al-Jazeera, and Middle East Eye.

On November 22, Al-Sharif had reported receiving threats from Israeli military officers via phone, according to Al-Jazeera. The journalist told Al-Jazeera that he had received multiple phone calls from officers in the Israeli army instructing him to cease coverage and leave northern Gaza. Additionally, he received voice notes on WhatsApp disclosing his location.

“CPJ is deeply alarmed by the pattern of journalists in Gaza reporting receiving threats, and subsequently, their family members being killed,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour. “The killing of the family members of journalists in Gaza is making it almost impossible for the journalists to continue reporting, as the risk now extends beyond them also to include their beloved ones.”

Also on Monday, several members of the family of Diaa Al-Kahlout, a Gaza correspondent for Al-Araby Al-Jadeed who was arrested on December 7, were injured or killed by an Israeli strike in Beit Lahya, in northern Gaza, according to a report by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, a Qatari-funded London-based pan-Arab newspaper. 

The previous week, at least three journalists lost a number of family members due to Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip:

• On December 3, Ibrahim Dahman, a CNN producer in Gaza who has escaped to Egypt, reported that an Israeli strike had directly hit the building where his relatives were living in Beit Lahia, killing an uncle and his wife, daughter, and two grandchildren, as well as an aunt, her husband, and two children, according to CNN.

• On December 7, several family members of journalist Abdelhamid Abdelati, the chairman of the Al-Mowaten website and the program host on Al-Watan Radio, were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes and Al–Hadath TV.

• The day before, 22 family members of Moamen Al Sharafi, a correspondent for Al-Jazeera Arabic, were killed by an Israeli airstrike on their house in the Jabalia refugee camp, according to Al-Jazeera and The New Arab.

Previously, on November 13, eight family members of photojournalist Yasser Qudih were killed when their house in southern Gaza was struck by four missiles, according to Reuters news agency and The Guardian. Qudih survived the attack.

The incident occurred five days after a November 8 report by HonestReporting—a group that monitors what it describes as “ideological prejudice” in media coverage of Israel—raised questions about Qudih and three other Gaza-based photographers having prior knowledge of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel. Major media outlets, including Reuters, rejected the claims. HonestReporting subsequently withdrew the accusations, but its report prompted the Israeli prime minister’s office to tweet that the photographers were accomplices in “crimes against humanity,” and Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz to say they should be treated as terrorists.

On October 25, Wael Al Dahdouh, Al-Jazeera’s bureau chief for Gaza, lost his wife, son, daughter, and grandson when an Israeli airstrike hit the Nuseirat refugee camp, according to a statement from Al-Jazeera and Politico.

CPJ’s email requesting comment from the North America Desk of the Israel Defense Forces did not immediately receive a response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director.

On Monday, an Israeli airstrike hit Al-Sharif’s family home in the Jabalia refugee camp, killing the journalist’s 90-year-old father, according to Al-Jazeera, and Middle East Eye.

On November 22, Al-Sharif had reported receiving threats from Israeli military officers via phone, according to Al-Jazeera. The journalist told Al-Jazeera that he had received multiple phone calls from officers in the Israeli army instructing him to cease coverage and leave northern Gaza. Additionally, he received voice notes on WhatsApp disclosing his location.

“CPJ is deeply alarmed by the pattern of journalists in Gaza reporting receiving threats, and subsequently, their family members being killed,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour. “The killing of the family members of journalists in Gaza is making it almost impossible for the journalists to continue reporting, as the risk now extends beyond them also to include their beloved ones.”

Also on Monday, several members of the family of Diaa Al-Kahlout, a Gaza correspondent for Al-Araby Al-Jadeed who was arrested on December 7, were injured or killed by an Israeli strike in Beit Lahya, in northern Gaza, according to a report by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, a Qatari-funded London-based pan-Arab newspaper. 

The previous week, at least three journalists lost a number of family members due to Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip:

• On December 3, Ibrahim Dahman, a CNN producer in Gaza who has escaped to Egypt, reported that an Israeli strike had directly hit the building where his relatives were living in Beit Lahia, killing an uncle and his wife, daughter, and two grandchildren, as well as an aunt, her husband, and two children, according to CNN.

• On December 7, several family members of journalist Abdelhamid Abdelati, the chairman of the Al-Mowaten website and the program host on Al-Watan Radio, were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes and Al–Hadath TV.

• The day before, 22 family members of Moamen Al Sharafi, a correspondent for Al-Jazeera Arabic, were killed by an Israeli airstrike on their house in the Jabalia refugee camp, according to Al-Jazeera and The New Arab.

Previously, on November 13, eight family members of photojournalist Yasser Qudih were killed when their house in southern Gaza was struck by four missiles, according to Reuters news agency and The Guardian. Qudih survived the attack.

The incident occurred five days after a November 8 report by HonestReporting—a group that monitors what it describes as “ideological prejudice” in media coverage of Israel—raised questions about Qudih and three other Gaza-based photographers having prior knowledge of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel. Major media outlets, including Reuters, rejected the claims. HonestReporting subsequently withdrew the accusations, but its report prompted the Israeli prime minister’s office to tweet that the photographers were accomplices in “crimes against humanity,” and Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz to say they should be treated as terrorists.

On October 25, Wael Al Dahdouh, Al-Jazeera’s bureau chief for Gaza, lost his wife, son, daughter, and grandson when an Israeli airstrike hit the Nuseirat refugee camp, according to a statement from Al-Jazeera and Politico.

CPJ’s email requesting comment from the North America Desk of the Israel Defense Forces did not immediately receive a response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director.