The eldest son of Wael al-Dahdouh, Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief has been killed in an Israeli strike in southern Gaza.
Wife of the bureau chief, Amna, his grandchild Adam, his 15-year-old son Mahmoud and seven-year-old daughter Sham all died in an earlier Israeli strike.
His son, Hamza al-Dahdouh, himself an Al Jazeera network journalist and cameraman, was with other journalists on a road between Khan Younis and Rafah when a drone strike hit.
Four other members of bureau chief Wael al-Dahdouh’s family were also killed in October.
Journalist Mustafa Thuraya was also killed in the attack, when the vehicle they were travelling in near al-Mawasi, a supposedly safe area towards the southwest, was struck by the missile. A third passenger, Hazem Rajab, was seriously injured.
According to reports from Al Jazeera correspondents, Hamza and Mustafa’s vehicle was targeted as they were trying to interview civilians displaced by previous bombings.
Hamza, 27, was a journalist like his father.
Mustafa was also in his 20s.
Speaking from the cemetery where his son had been laid to rest, Wael seemed subdued yet resigned, saying he was one of the droves of people in Gaza today who are bidding bitter farewells to their loved ones every day.
He vowed to remain on his path of showing the world what is happening in Gaza, despite the pain of one loss after another.
“Hamza was everything to me, the eldest boy, he was the soul of my soul… these are the tears of parting and loss, the tears of humanity,” he said.
The Al Jazeera Media Network strongly condemned the attack, adding: “The assassination of Mustafa and Hamza … whilst they were on their way to carry out their duty in the Gaza Strip, reaffirms the need to take immediate necessary legal measures against the occupation forces to ensure that there is no impunity.”
AL JAZEERA
