Palestinian female journalist killed in Israeli strike on northern Gaza

The death of Ahlam al-Nafed, who recently reported from the besieged Indonesian Hospital, has taken the Palestinian journalists’ death toll to 205 since early October 2023 when the occupying Tel Aviv regime launched its all-out onslaught against the blockaded coastal sliver.

She was killed on Tuesday as she was walking to al-Shifa Hospital – the largest medical complex and central hospital in the Gaza Strip, and located in the neighborhood of northern Rimal in Gaza City.

“For the past 100 days, Ahlam chronicled the genocide in northern Gaza, capturing evidence of Israeli war crimes from the besieged Indonesian Hospital.

“Through her words and images, she ensured that atrocities which might have been silenced were brought to light, allowing the world to witness the brutal reality unfolding there,” Drop Site News, the outlet Ahlam al-Nafed worked for, wrote in a statement published on its X account on Tuesday.

“She was one of the last remaining voices in northern Gaza — a voice the world desperately needed. Without her, the full extent of Israel’s actions might never have been known,” the statement also read.

That comes a short while after the death of another Palestinian journalist Mohammad al-Talmas who was wounded in an Israeli bombing of Sheikh Radwan neighborhood before he succumbed to his injuries in Gaza City.

Gaza’s Government Media Office said in a statement, “We call on the International Federation of Journalists, the Federation of Arab Journalists, and all journalistic bodies in all countries of the world to condemn these systematic crimes against Palestinian journalists and media professionals in the Gaza Strip”.

The office called on the International Federation of Journalists, the Arab Journalists Union, and media organizations worldwide to denounce the regime for its crimes against journalists and the press in Gaza.

The statement also held the US and other Western countries involved in the Israeli campaign of genocide fully responsible for the deliberate targeting of journalists.

Journalists working within the Palestinian territory face heightened risks while covering the genocidal war, particularly in light of Israeli ground assaults and airstrikes, as well as challenges such as disrupted communications, shortages of supplies, and power outages.

In the face of these difficulties, Palestinian journalists have continued to document the atrocities of the war, acting as the global community's eyes and ears throughout one of the deadliest wars of the 21st century.

Backed by the United States and its Western allies, Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the Israeli regime in response to its decades-long campaign of oppression against Palestinians.

The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed at least 46,645 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 110,012 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.