Israeli Strikes Kill Journalist Ahmed Qalja, Raising Gaza Media Death Toll to 226

Gaza (Quds News Network)- The number of journalists killed in Israel’s genocide in Gaza has risen to 226, after the murder of Ahmed Qalja, a cameraman for Al Araby TV. He was injured in an Israeli airstrike Thursday on a media tent near the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City and succumbed to his wounds Friday.

The Government Media Office in Gaza condemned the killing. It stated that Israel is deliberately targeting Palestinian journalists and called on international press unions to take urgent action.

On Thursday, Israeli warplanes bombed a tent used by journalists covering the genocide. The strike killed three journalists:

• Samir Al-Rifai of Shams News Agency

• Ismail Baddah, a photographer for Palestine Today TV

• Suleiman Hani Hajaj, also a local reporter

Ahmed Qalja and Emad Daloul, a correspondent for Palestine Today, were seriously injured. Qalja died today. Daloul remains in critical condition.

The Media Office holds Israel, the United States, the UK, France, and Germany fully responsible for the killing of journalists. It says these nations are complicit in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

More than 130 global media outlets and press freedom organizations on Thursday demanded that Israel allow foreign reporters to enter Gaza without restrictions.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has banned international journalists from entering Gaza. “This is unprecedented in the modern history of armed conflicts,” said the letter co-signed by Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and leading editors from AFP, AP, and Haaretz.

The signatories said local journalists in Gaza are “best positioned to report the truth” but face constant threats, hunger, displacement, and death.

Since October, Israel’s genocide has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, most of them are women and children. Over 125,000 have been injured, and nearly all of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced. Entire neighborhoods lie in ruins, with destruction compared to the worst wars of the modern era.