Four Journalists and Their Families Martyred in Gaza

Four journalists and their families, one of whom was lost contact two days ago, were killed in a new crime committed by the Israeli occupation.

The Journalists Syndicate reported the martyrdom of journalist Nour Qandil, a martyr of free speech, her husband, journalist Khaled Abu Saif, and their daughter, after Israeli aircraft targeted their safe home in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

The occupation assassinated photographer Aziz al-Hajjar in Bir al-Na'ja, north of the Gaza Strip, who was martyred along with his wife and children.

In the town of al-Qarara in the south, two days after contact was lost with him, journalist Abdul Rahman Tawfiq al-Abadlah was killed.

The Journalists Syndicate confirmed that the number of journalists martyred in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the aggression has exceeded all known figures in modern times, an unprecedented event in contemporary history, both in terms of the number of martyrs and the brutality of the direct targeting of their families and homes.

No war in recent decades has witnessed such a large amount of bloodshed among camera and microphone carriers, reflecting the clear intent of the occupation to eradicate the truth. The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate called on the International Criminal Court to assume its legal and moral responsibilities and expedite the issuance of arrest warrants for the Israeli occupation leaders involved in the deliberate killing of Palestinian journalists and the targeting of their families and homes.

It stated: "This systematic targeting of journalists is a full-fledged war crime that requires immediate prosecution and trial before international justice. The killers must not escape punishment, and the innocent blood of journalists must not remain mere numbers in cold UN reports."

The Syndicate held the Israeli occupation fully and directly responsible for these heinous crimes, stressing that targeting journalists and their families is a terrorist act and a crime against humanity that will not go unpunished.

It also warned that the silence of the international community and human rights organizations, and the inaction of UN institutions, constitutes clear complicity with the executioner and gives the killer further green light to perpetrate massacres against the free press.

She stressed that the blood of the martyrs will not be shed in vain, and that Palestinian journalists will continue their mission, armed with faith, truth, and justice, even if it requires each journalist to carry their own coffin on their back while covering the massacre.