The latest murders at the hands of Israel are that of Ismail al Ghoul, and his camera-colleague, Rami al-Rifi. Both ace newsmen from Al Jazeera. The count of journalists on the roll of Al Jazeera, murdered by Israel, continues to climb. With more than 110 journalists murdered, it’s a clear war on them now in the ravaged landscape of Gaza
By Amit Sengupta
It’s like serial killings. One cold-blooded murder after another. Often, targeted with precision. One journalist after another. In the line of duty.
The latest murders at the hands of Israel are young Ismail al Ghoul, and his camera-colleague, Rami al-Rifi. Both ace newsmen from Al Jazeera. The count of journalists on the roll of Al Jazeera, murdered by Israel, continues to climb. It’s a clear war on journalists now in the ravaged landscape of Gaza.
They were travelling in their car in the Shati refugee camp when they were hit from the air. As is the norm in this conflict zone, they had clear identifications marked on their car, and they were wearing protective gear such as helmets and media vests.
There were reports of a house being attacked, part of the Israeli strategy. Killing entire families in one go, in homes and multi-storied buildings. Almost all civilians, women, children.
The journalists were on an assignment near the house of veteran Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, chief of their political wing, who was killed by Israeli strike forces in Tehran recently. And no, Al Jazeera has categorically stated that Ismail was not a Hamas operative. This is nothing but compulsive propaganda routinely dished out by Tel Aviv.
In a statement, Al Jazeera Media Network called the killings a “targeted assassination”. They promised to “pursue all legal actions to prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes”. It said that Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) hit Al Ghoul and Al Refee’s car with a missile, “resulting in a cold-blooded assassination”. Ismail was earlier picked up by the IDF at Al Shifaa Hospital in Northern Gaza.
Ismail was last of the few brave journalists reporting from the devastated conflict zone, risking his life each day, every moment. He had a huge fan following for his exclusive reports filed under extremely tough circumstances. He had 620,000 Instagram followers on social media, and was equally popular when he appeared live on Al Jazeera.
He was married. His little child is named Zeina. She has not seen her father since the war began. He was buried in Gaza City on July 31, 2024.
Cameraman Rami Al Refee, 27, was working for the National News agency, a local news network. He was also freelancing for Al Jazeera. He too was buried in Gaza City on July 31, 2024.
The Committee for Protection of Journalists (CPJ), in its recent report on the killing of journalists in Gaza, have reported that as of August 4, 2024, at least 113 journalists and media worker have been killed. According to the Internatinoal Federation of Journalists, 127 journalists have been killed while reporting from the ground.
They include the 40,000 people murdered in cold blood since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, last year. The CPJ is investigating almost 350 additional cases of potential killings, arrests and injuries of journalists.
“Since the war in Gaza started, journalists have been paying the highest price — their lives — for their reporting. Without protection, equipment, international presence, communications, or food and water, they are still doing their crucial jobs to tell the world the truth,” said CPJ Programme Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna in New York. “Every time a journalist is killed, injured, arrested, or forced to go to exile, we lose fragments of the truth. Those responsible for these casualties face dual trials: one under international law and another before history’s unforgiving gaze.”
According to the CPJ, journalists are civilians and are protected by international law. Deliberately targeting civilians constitutes a war crime. In May, the International Criminal Court had announced that it was seeking arrest warrant applications for Hamas and Israeli leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity. To date, CPJ has determind that at least three journalists were directly targeted by Israeli forces in killings which it classifies as murders, but is still researching the details for confirmation in at least 10 other cases that indicate possible targeting.
As of August 2, 113 journalists and media workers were confirmed killed: 108 Palestinian, two Israeli, and three Lebanese. At least, 32 journalists were reported injured; two journalists were reported missing, and 52 journalists were reportedly arrested. Plus, there have been multiple assaults, threats, cyber-attacks, censorship and targeted killings of the family members of scores of journalists.
There have other unconfirmed stories of media-persons who have been killed, who are missing or detained. The CPJ is investigating those cases.
The United Nation has expressed deep concern over these killings. Earlier, experts in the UN had said that they were truly “alarmed at the extraordinarily high numbers of journalists and media workers who have been killed, attacked, injured and detained in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in Gaza, in recent months, blatantly disregarding international law.