Journalists worldwide are feeling the impact of Israeli strikes hitting a hospital in southern Gaza killing 20 people total including five journalists, according to Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the Gaza Health Ministry’s records department.
According to an Associated Press (AP) article, videos showed journalists and rescue workers running to the scene after the initial explosion. However, it wasn’t until a second strike hit a staircase, where journalists were often stationed, that those five journalists were killed.
As a student studying journalism, it is frightening to hear of those being killed simply for reporting. It is the right of those journalists to report on the wrongful persecution of Palestinians. Without them, the entire world would be blind to the genocide occuring in Gaza, as Israel has barred international media from covering the war. I wonder why?
It almost seems as though that was the intention of Israel and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; if theres no one to report on the genocide, then no one can see it, and Israel gets to keep on killing.
Netanyahu’s office has since released a statement calling the attack a “tragic mishap.” But if that were truly the case, why was there a second strike to begin with, or any strikes at all? The intention of Netanyahu has always been to harm and he has clearly shown no sympathy toward the people of Palestine or their loved ones.
The AP reported that Israel has killed about 200 Palestinian journalists since the start of the war in Gaza, although the exact date is unclear.
The Israeli military said it “regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and does not target journalists as such,” yet the blood of 200 journalists is on their hands.
According to the AP article, The Foreign Press Association, which has petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court over the country’s decision to prevent journalists from accessing Gaza, made a sentimental plea on Monday.
“Too many journalists in Gaza have been killed by Israel without justification,” the organization said in a statement. “This must be a watershed moment. We appeal to international leaders: Do everything you can to protect our colleagues. We cannot do it ourselves.”
I could not have said it better myself.
While we mourn the loss of fellow journalists, we must do everything in our power to prevent it from happening again. Go out, protest and support Palestinian journalists still covering the tragedies in Gaza. Donate to families struggling to stay alive, boycott companies aiding Israel’s military and keep yourself and others informed. As Albert Einstein said, “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.”
Madelyn Marabella can be contacted at
mmarabella@kscequinox.com
