Ramallah – 9th April 2026 – The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) strongly condemns the assassination of journalist MOHAMMAD SAMIR WASHAH (39 years old), reporter for Al Jazeera Mubasher, who was directly targeted by Israeli occupation aircraft in Gaza City. This tragic killing raises the number of journalists martyred since the beginning of this year to five.
According to MADA’s field researcher, a drone targeted a civilian vehicle, a Tucson, on Wednesday evening, 8 April 2026, at approximately 06:50. WASHAH was inside the vehicle while traveling on Al-Rashid Street, near Al-Kuwaiti Roundabout in the Sheikh Ajleen area of western Gaza City. The strike resulted in his immediate death and the complete incineration of the vehicle, despite it bearing a clearly visible press emblem. Another person accompanying him was also killed.
MADA emphasizes that targeting journalists while performing their professional duties constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law and represents a crime requiring accountability, particularly amid the increasing systematic violations against journalists in the Palestinian territories and the wider region, aimed at obstructing the reporting of factual events. Yesterday, two journalists were also killed in Lebanon as part of this pattern of attacks.
The Center calls upon the international community and institutions concerned with media freedom to take urgent action to halt these violations, ensure protection for journalists, and hold the perpetrators accountable, guaranteeing they do not evade justice.
MADA also reiterates the importance of respecting the special protection afforded to journalists under international law, recognizing them as civilians, and emphasizes the necessity of enabling them to perform their professional duties freely and safely.
