Al Jazeera says Israeli strike kills journalist in Gaza

DOHA – Qatar-based Al Jazeera said on June 20 that an Israeli strike killed one of its journalists in the Gaza Strip, the latest of a string of people working for the broadcaster killed in the Palestinian territory since Oct 7, 2023.

An Israeli military spokesman told AFP it “confirms it carried out a strike on Ahmed Wishah, who was a Hamas terrorist”.

The spokesman did not immediately provide evidence to support the military’s claim about Wishah, but said “there will be a statement issued with further details”.

“Ahmed Wishah, a cameraman for Al Jazeera, has been killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a house in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza,” Al Jazeera said on its website.

A correspondent for the channel said the strike was carried out by a drone in the refugee camp and also injured several people.

The broadcaster said Wishah’s brother and fellow Al Jazeera journalist Mohammed was killed in April “by Israeli shelling when he was travelling in his vehicle”.

Media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said at the time that Israeli forces have killed more than 220 journalists, at least 70 of whom were killed in the context of their professional duties.

The Israeli army has repeatedly said it never deliberately targets journalists.

But since October 2023, it has claimed to have killed a number of people who it says were Palestinian militant “terrorists” working under the guise of being media professionals. AFP