Al Jazeera cameraman dies after Israeli attack in southern Gaza, network says

By Abeer Salmam, Kareem Khadder and Lucas Lilieholm and Heather Chen, CNN

Jerusalem (CNN) — An Al Jazeera journalist has died after being badly injured during an Israeli attack in southern Gaza and then forced to wait five hours for medical attention, the network told CNN on Friday.

Camera operator Samer Abu Daqqa died of wounds sustained in the attack, the Qatar-based network said, adding that he was bleeding for hours before medical personnel could reach him due to heavy shelling in the city.

Hundreds gathered in southern Gaza to mourn Abu Daqqa on Saturday as his body was laid to rest, with his mother Umm Maher sobbing as she knelt down to pray over her son’s grave.

Al Jazeera correspondent and Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh was also injured in the attack, the Qatar-based news network said in a statement to CNN on Friday.

Dahdouh was eventually evacuated to a hospital, but Abu Daqqa’s injury was too severe to survive, according to Walid Alomari, Al Jazeera’s bureau chief for Jerusalem and the West Bank. “Too many in Gaza bleed and die because ambulances can’t reach them,” he said.

The network went on to accuse Israel of “systematically targeting and killing Al Jazeera journalists and their families.”

A statement called on the international community to take “immediate action to hold the Israeli government and military accountable.”

CNN cannot independently verify the allegations.

Responding to a request for comment from CNN on the network’s claim, the press office for the IDF said: “The IDF takes all operationally feasible measures to protect both civilians and journalists.

“The IDF has never, and will never, deliberately target journalists. Given the ongoing exchanges of fire, remaining in an active combat zone has inherent risks. The IDF will continue to counter threats while persisting to mitigate harm to civilians.”

In a later statement in response to CNN’s reporting, the IDF said that an ambulance had been dispatched to help Abu Daqqa but it “encountered road damage” and couldn’t reach the scene in time. “Once we became aware of an injured individual and received a request to grant permission for an ambulance, COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories) granted permission for the ambulance to use a safe passage,” the IDF statement read.

“However, the ambulance chose a different route, which encountered road damage. The IDF promptly responded by sending a bulldozer to assist in repairing the pathway for the ambulance. Unfortunately, by the time these efforts were completed, it was already too late,” it added.

The IDF said it was unable to provide additional detail when asked by CNN how long it took for the ambulance to be granted permission to travel to the site where Abu Daqqa required emergency medical assistance.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) data, Abu Daqqa is the first Al Jazeera journalist to have been killed in the latest Israel-Hamas conflict since October 7.

Four other Al Jazeera journalists have been injured, CPJ says, including three in southern Lebanon and Dahdouh, who had also lost his wife, daughter, son and grandson in an attack on Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza late October.

Under fire

Abu Daqqa and Dahdouh were on assignment in the southern city of Khan Younis when they came under fire.

Dahdouh later recounted the moments leading up to the incident. He said it took place when they were heading back to an ambulance belonging to the Palestinian Civil Defense after they were done filming in an area of Khan Younis that was hard to reach.

“Suddenly, something happened, a big thing, I couldn’t tell what it was, I only felt something big happened and pushed me to the ground, the helmet fell and the microphone,” Dahdouh told Al Jazeera while on a hospital bed before being informed his colleague had lost his life.

“I saw there was an intense bleeding from my shoulder and arm, and I realized if I stayed, I will be bleeding there in that location, and no one will reach me,” he added.

Dahdouh said he was able to reach Civil Defense staff hundreds of meters away but was unable to help Abu Daqqa, fearing they would be targetted.

Al Jazeera said on air that Abu Daqqa was bleeding for five hours and no-one could reach to him due to the situation around him.

At least 17 others were killed and dozens of others were injured early Friday morning after artillery fire struck the city’s Haifa school and a residential home in the area.

Three civil defense workers in Gaza whose rescue efforts at the school were being covered by the al Jazeera team were also killed, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Interior.

On Saturday, the body of Abu Daqqa, wrapped in a white cloth, was carried on the shoulders of the assembled crowd from Al-Nasser Medical complex in Khan Younis to a nearby cemetery. On his chest were the press vest and helmet he had been wearing when he was wounded.

The funeral was attended by friends, family and colleagues, many of them wearing their press vests. Abu Daqqa’s wife and children live in Belgium.

Khan Younis has been heavily bombarded by the Israeli military since a fragile truce between Hamas and Israel broke down on 1 December.

As of December 15, preliminary investigations by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) found at least 64 journalists and media workers have been killed since October 7. The majority were Palestinians, as well as four Israeli and three Lebanese members of the press, according to the CPJ. Thirteen journalists have also been reported injured, 13 are missing, and 19 have reportedly been arrested, the organization said.

CPJ said Friday it was alarmed by the drone strike that killed Abu Daqqa and wounded Dahdouh and called on “international authorities to independently investigate the attack and hold those responsible to account.”

Speaking to Al Jazeera, CPJ President Jodie Ginsberg reiterated a call for the protection of journalists and emphasized the importance of their work in Gaza, which she called an “unprecedented” challenge.

“We’re really only left with Gaza journalists doing this really important documentation work,” she said.

Abu Daqqa’s colleagues have been paying tribute to his bravery following his death, with Al Jazeera investigative reporter Tamer Al-Mishal describing him as “professional” and “a great cameraman and editor [who] doesn’t fear anything.”

“I spoke to him a few days ago and told him ‘Why don’t you join your family abroad?’ And he told me they will be back soon when this war is over,” Al-Mishal said.

Abu Daqqa had decided not to leave Gaza, Al-Mishal added, noting that the cameraman had worked for more than 20 years for Al Jazeera.

Hiba Akila, another colleague of Abu Daqqa, remembered him as a cheerful co-worker.

“Samer was not only an optimistic, joyful person who loved life, but he was also a journalist who upholds his journalistic mission, always giving us a boost whenever we felt pain and desperation,” said the Al Jazeera correspondent in a broken voice as she reported live from Rafah on Friday night.

“When we were supporting and comforting Samer that soon he will meet his family, he would say, ‘I will not go to them, they will come here, and we will be together in Gaza,’” she added.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the location where Wael Dahdouh’s family was killed. It was Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. This story has also been updated to clarify the breakdown of journalists killed in the region since October 7 as of December 15.

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