Gazan journalists are not spared from the war between Hamas and Israel. One of the figures embodying this fight for information is Wael al-Dahdouh, correspondent and bureau chief for Al Jazeera in the Gaza Strip. He lost his wife, a grandson and three sons. The third, also a journalist, died in an Israeli strike on Sunday.
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Faced with the shroud wrapped around his son’s body, Wael al-Dahdouh collapsed, described Guilhem Delteil, from RFI’s international service. This fifty-year-old had already lost his wife, two other children and a grandchild in an Israeli bombing in October. Here he is mourning another death. Hamza was killed on Sunday.
“ It is true that the suffering is very great and the pain even more, comments Wael. The price is very, very, very high. Because Hamza was everything to me. He was my soul and my oxygen. » The son paid tribute to his father the day before his death on X.
Next to the remains, as during the funerals of his other loved ones, the bereaved father is still wearing his bulletproof vest. And a few hours later, he was already back at work. Despite the suffering, the man – himself injured in a bombing –, in a video broadcast on the social network X, says he is carried by the importance of his mission.
“ This price and this pain will certainly not stop us from continuing on this path, confirms Wael al-Dahdouh. We will not hesitate and we will not stop for a moment as long as we are alive. Because it is a noble humanitarian message, sacred and guaranteed by all international and humanitarian laws and conventions. »
In the Arab world, where many homes are tuned to Al Jazeera, Wael al-Dahdouh has become a face symbol of courage and strength. And with access to the Gazan enclave being prohibited to any outside journalist, this Palestinian is today one of the rare voices who can tell the world what is happening in the Gaza Strip at war.
The colleagues are in fact not spared in this conflict. The prosecutor’s office of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has also confirmed that it is investigating crimes committed against journalists in the besieged Gaza Strip.
“ Journalists are protected by international humanitarian law (…) and must under no circumstances be targeted in the exercise of their important mission », recalled the prosecutor’s office on Tuesday, announcing that it was therefore including this dimension in its investigation into war crimes in the Palestinian enclave.
🔴 ALERT @RSF_inter. There are at least 31 Palestinian journalists in Israeli prisons currently. Most are locked up without any charges. These arbitrary incarcerations contravene the rights of defense and freedom of the press.#PressFreedom… pic.twitter.com/hN1tTVFN6y
— Christophe Deloire (@cdeloire) January 9, 2024
The organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) had asked for the ICC to investigate these crimes. She counted at least 79 journalists and other media professionals killed by the Israeli army since the start of the war in Gaza.
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