Ramallah – 21 June 2026 – The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) strongly condemns the targeting and killing of photojournalist AHMAD SAMIR WISHAH (28 years old), a cameraman for Al Jazeera Mubasher, who was killed yesterday evening following an Israeli airstrike that targeted a house belonging to the ABU HASNA family in the Bureij Refugee Camp in central Gaza. This incident constitutes a new crime against journalists in the Gaza Strip.

According to information obtained by a MADA field researcher, AHMAD WISHAH was inside the targeted house, having arrived there shortly before the strike after leaving his workplace. An Israeli drone fired a missile at the house, killing him instantly along with several other civilians. The victims were subsequently transferred to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.

The targeting of journalists and media workers represents a grave violation of international humanitarian law and international resolutions that guarantee the protection of journalists during armed conflicts. Such attacks undermine the public’s right to access information and hinder the documentation of events on the ground.

While expressing its profound sorrow and grief over the killing of AHMAD WISHAH, MADA extends its deepest condolences to his family and colleagues at Al Jazeera Mubasher. MADA also recalls that this crime comes only a few months after the killing of his brother, MOHAMMAD WISHAH, an Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent, who was killed in an assassination operation in Gaza City.

MADA renews its call on the international community, the United Nations, and organizations concerned with press freedom to take urgent action to ensure the protection of Palestinian journalists, launch an independent and transparent investigation into this crime and other killings of journalists, hold those responsible accountable, and put an end to the prevailing impunity for violations committed against journalists and media institutions in the Gaza Strip.