Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Samer Abudaqa has diedwhile covering an Israeli attack on a school in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
Abudaqa had been working with bureau chief Wael Dahdouh on Friday, covering an earlier air strike at Farhana school in Khan Younis, when both journalists fell victim to another Israeli missile attack.
Dahdouh was hit by shrapnel on his upper arm, and managed to reach Nasser hospital where he was treated for minor injuries.
Abudaqa, however, remained trapped in the school for hours, as paramedics were unable to reach him and others at the site due to Israeli fire.
Witnesses said there was heavy shelling in the area around the school.
Wael Dahdouh had warned that Abudaqa was “critically injured”.
Many Palestinians from the central and northern parts of Gaza have sought shelter in Khan Younis since the war began in October. Many have now been pushed further south towards the strip’s southernmost city of Rafah after Israel intensified its military operations in Khan Younis.
The attack comes amid violent clashes between Palestinian fighters and the Israeli army in locations across Gaza. Residents reported fighting in Shejaya, Sheikh Radwan, Zeitoun, Tuffah, and Beit Hanoun in north Gaza, east of Maghazi in central Gaza and in the centre and northern fringes of Khan Younis, according to the Reuters news service.
In late October, Wael Dahdouhlost four of his family membersin an Israeli air raid.
His family had been seeking refuge in Nuseirat camp in the centre of Gaza when their home was bombed by Israeli forces, killing his wife, Um Hamza, his 15-year-old son, Mahmoud, his seven-year-old daughter, Sham, and his grandson, Adam, who died in hospital hours later.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said it was “shocked” at the attack.
“We condemn the attack and reiterate our demand that journalists’ lives must be safeguarded,” it said in a post on X.
An IFJ report published last week found that 72 percent of journalists who died on the job this year were killed in the Gaza war.
