Ramallah – August 11, 2025 – The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) strongly condemns, in the harshest terms, the heinous crime committed by the Israeli occupation forces in targeting the journalists’ tent near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The attack resulted in the killing of Al Jazeera’s news team and several other journalists who were fulfilling their professional duty to cover events and convey the truth to the world.

Killed in last night’s brutal attack were: journalist ANAS AL-SHARIF and journalist MOHAMMAD QREIQA, both reporters for Al Jazeera; photojournalists IBRAHIM THAHER and MO’MEN ALWIYEH; MOHAMMAD NOFAL, an assistant photojournalist; and MOHAMMAD AL-KHALDI, a photojournalist with the Sahat Media Network. Journalists AHMAD AL-HARAZIN, MOHAMMAD QEITA, and MOHAMMAD SOBEH, a reporter for Al-Kofiya Channel, were also injured.

With the killing of these six journalists, the total number of journalists killed since the beginning of this year has risen to 64, and since the start of the genocide in Gaza, to 280.

This bloody assault constitutes a flagrant violation of all international conventions and norms, foremost among them the Geneva Conventions. It reflects the systematic policy adopted by the Israeli occupation forces to target Palestinian journalists, as well as local and Arab media institutions and their personnel, in an effort to obscure the truth and prevent documentation of its crimes against civilians.

We hold the Israeli occupation and all those who support or stand by it fully responsible for this horrific and systematic crime against journalists and media professionals in Gaza. MADA emphasizes that the repeated targeting of journalists and media institutions—including clearly marked and known press gathering locations—amounts to war crimes that must be prosecuted and held accountable before international courts.

MADA calls on the international community, the United Nations, and international human rights and media organizations to take immediate and serious action to ensure the protection of journalists in the occupied Palestinian territories, to hold the perpetrators of these horrific crimes accountable, and to put an end to the policy of impunity that encourages further violations.

MADA also extends its deepest condolences to the families of the fallen journalists and expresses its full solidarity with all Palestinian journalists who continue to carry out their mission despite the grave dangers they face.