Overview
- An Israeli strike hit a vehicle on Gaza City’s coastal al-Rashid Street on Wednesday, killing Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Wishah and another passenger, according to the network and local medics.
- Israel’s military said Thursday that Wishah was a Hamas operative who used journalism as cover and worked on weapons and attack plans, claims Al Jazeera has rejected.
- Al Jazeera called the death a deliberate targeting of a journalist and said it will pursue legal action to hold those responsible to account.
- Eyewitnesses and colleagues described a drone “double-tap” that struck the car and then hit responders, a pattern that puts medics and bystanders at grave risk.
- The killing occurred during a US-brokered ceasefire that local authorities say has been widely breached, and press-rights groups CPJ and RSF condemned the strike and urged an independent investigation as Gaza’s media office reports 262 journalists killed since October 2023.