GAZA STRIP: Two relatives of the director of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau were killed in an Israeli air strike on Monday, the health ministry in the territory and family members said.

Brothers Ahmed al-Dahdouh, 30, and Muhammad al-Dahdouh, 26, were travelling in a car when it was hit in the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Rafah, the ministry said, adding a third man accompanying them was also killed.

The bureau chief, Wael al-Dahdouh, confirmed to AFP that the two men were his nephews. His eldest son was killed in an airstrike just yesterday.

Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesman for the Gaza health ministry, accused Israel of “targeting a civilian car”.

“I offer my condolences to Wael al-Dahdouh for the death of his relatives,” Qudra said in a statement. When contacted by AFP, the Israeli army said it was “checking” the claim.

Wael al-Dahdouh had lost his son, Hamza, just a day earlier; UN sounds alarm over ‘high death toll’ of media workers in Gaza

AFP footage showed the mangled remains of the car, with its roof ripped off by the strike.

Muhammad worked as an accountant at a school and Ahmed was an electronics engineer, a relative said.

Al Jazeera said on Sunday that a similar strike in Rafah killed two Palestinian journalists working for it, including Wael’s son Hamza.

Hamza was killed along with Mustafa Thuria, who also worked as a video stringer for AFP and other news organisations, “while they were on their way to carry out their duty” for the Qatar-based network, it said.

AFP‘s global news director Phil Chetwynd said the agency was “shocked” by Mustafa’s death and its thoughts were with his family.

“We vigorously condemn all attacks against journalists doing their jobs and it is essential we have a clear explanation as to what happened,” Chetwynd added.

A third freelance journalist travelling with them, Hazem Rajab, was seriously wounded along with the driver.

The Israeli army, when asked about Sunday’s strike, told AFP that it had ‘struck a terrorist who operated an aircraft that posed a threat’ to troops.

The army said it was “aware of the reports that during the strike, two other suspects who were in the same vehicle as the terrorist were also hit”.

The Al Jazeera bureau chief was recently wounded himself in a strike, and had lost his wife and two other children in Israeli bombardment in the initial weeks of the war.

UN condemnation

The UN voiced alarm Monday at the many journalists killed in the war in Gaza, a day after two Al Jazeera reporters died in an Israeli strike on their car.

“Very concerned by high death toll of media workers in Gaza,” the UN rights office said on X, formerly Twitter.

“Killings of all journalists, including Hamza Wael Dahdouh and Mustafa Abu Thuria in reported IDF strike on car must be thoroughly, independently investigated to ensure strict compliance with international law, and violations prosecuted,” it said.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 79 journalists and media professionals, the vast majority Palestinian, have been killed since the war began. However, according to major international media outlets, 109 journalists have been killed since October 7.

Israel has responded with relentless bombardment and a ground invasion that have killed at least 23,084 people, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry’s latest toll.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2024