Abed Shaat drifted off to sleep on Sunday evening, exhausted after protecting Israeli air strikes all day.
The 33-year-old freelance photographer had returned to a tent in entrance of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza the place he’d been based mostly together with different journalists because the begin of Israel’s warfare on Gaza.
Then, they have been jolted awake.
“I woke as much as the sound of an enormous explosion close by,” Shaat mentioned. “My colleagues and I instantly rushed out of the tent. (I had) my cell phone to movie.
“The strike had instantly hit the journalists’ tent throughout from us. I used to be horrified – to focus on journalists like this!”
Burned to dying
The tent belonged to the TV station Palestine At present.
“I began taking photos from a distance, however as I bought nearer to the burning tent, I noticed one in all my colleagues on hearth,” Shaat mentioned.
“I couldn’t proceed filming. I don’t even understand how I summoned the braveness to strategy the flames and attempt to pull the burning individual out.
“The fireplace was intense. There was a gasoline canister that had exploded, and one other one which was burning. I attempted to tug him out by his leg, however his pants tore off in my hand. I attempted from one other angle, however I couldn’t.
“The fireplace grew so sturdy, I fell again, I couldn’t bear it any longer. Then a number of the males got here with water to place the fireplace out.
“I all of the sudden felt actually weak … and misplaced consciousness.”
The mom of Palestinian journalist Islam Maqdad, who was killed in an Israeli strike, sits close to her physique at Nasser Hospital on April 6, 2025, a day earlier than one other Israel killed one other journalist within the hospital (Hatem Khaled/Reuters)
Israel’s assault burned Palestine At present reporter Hilmi al-Faqaawi to dying together with one other man named Yousef al-Khazindar.
Journalists hasan eslaih, ahmed al-Agha, Muhammad Fayek, Abdallah Al-Attar, Ihab Al-Pardini and Mahmoud Awad Have been Additionally Injred.
The Israeli military mentioned on X it had launched the assault to seize Hassan Abdel Fattah Muhammad Islayh (Eslaih), alleging he was a member of Hamas posing as a journalist.
Eslaih, a journalist with a big social media following, was badly wounded within the strike. He had been threatened a number of occasions by Israeli authorities for protecting an assault on an Israeli kibbutz through the Hamas-led assaults on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
The Israeli military additionally mentioned it took steps “to scale back the possibility of harming civilians” however didn’t clarify why it selected to bomb a tent stuffed with sleeping journalists to seize one in all them.
‘Nothing new in … crimes towards journalists’
Greater than 200 journalists and media employees have been killed by Israeli forces since October 2023, in accordance with the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, making it the deadliest ever battle for journalists.
The tent focused on Monday was exterior one of many largest hospitals in southern Gaza.
Journalists have been gathering in hospitals from the start of Israel’s warfare on Gaza, in search of comparatively regular web service, electrical energy and security in numbers. Locals mentioned journalists have been stationed and reporting from Nasser Hospital all through the battle.
“We reside, sleep and work there. We see one another greater than we see our personal households,” Shaat mentioned. “What connects us … is extra than simply work.”
Consultants advised Al Jazeera in September that Israel’s killing of journalists in Gaza reveals a transparent sample of concentrating on journalists.
“There’s nothing new within the Israeli occupation’s crimes towards journalists,” Jad Shahrour, spokesperson for the Samir Kassir Basis, a Beirut-based media freedom watchdog, advised Al Jazeera.
“This isn’t the primary time throughout this warfare, from October 7 to immediately, whether or not in Lebanon or Gaza, the Israeli military has instantly focused journalists’ centres.
“This, after all, in accordance with worldwide regulation, is a warfare crime, and nothing justifies it.”
Hossam Shabat was killed in March in a focused assault by Israel (Filip Singer/EPA)
Different journalists killed in Gaza because the begin of the warfare embody Al Jazeera Mubasher journalist Hossam Shabat and Al Jazeera reporter Hamza Dahdouh, son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh.
Each journalists have been killed in focused assaults on their vehicles, and Israel justified its actions by saying they have been a part of armed teams however didn’t present proof for the allegations.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed at the least 50,700 folks in Gaza, most of whom are kids or girls and, due to this fact, not thought-about members of “terrorist teams” in Israel’s classification. Many civilian males – a protected group underneath worldwide regulation – have additionally been killed.
Reporters With out Borders advised Al Jazeera it was investigating Monday’s assault.
Palestinians undergo the stays of a tent that housed journalists and was hit by an Israeli strike in Khan Younis on April 7, 2025 (Hatem Khaled/Reuters)
Whose flip is it subsequent?
Journalists in Gaza are strolling with targets on their backs, media rights organisations mentioned.
“Israel intentionally bombs journalists as a result of it doesn’t need anybody to report the state of affairs,” Shahrour mentioned.
The thought, the teams mentioned, is to discourage reporting of potential warfare crimes Israel is committing to permit Israel to keep away from any accountability. The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate gave a information convention on Monday, calling for worldwide accountability for Israel’s crimes towards journalists in Gaza.
Chatting with Al Jazeera simply after getting back from al-Faqaawi’s funeral, Shaat spoke of the deep psychological scars the expertise has left on him.
“Even now, I don’t really feel I can transfer previous what I noticed. I by no means imagined in my life that I’d be pulling somebody whereas they have been on hearth.”
He sustained minor burns on each fingers through the rescue try and now can not maintain a digicam.
“I really feel fully paralysed. … Who’re we even doing this for? Does anybody care? Is there something extra horrific than this scene to maneuver folks?”
“This isn’t the primary time somebody has burned to dying, and it’s not the primary time journalists have been instantly focused,” Shaat mentioned.
“We nonetheless don’t know whose flip it is going to be subsequent.”
