Al Jazeera confirms death of journalist Mohammad Salama in Israeli strike on Gaza

Another Al Jazeera journalist has been killed in Gaza after an attack by Israel.

Mohammad Salama’s death was confirmed by the Qatar-based Television Network.

In the confirmation, an Al Jazeera spokesperson said the journalist was killed in an Israeli strike on Al Nasser Hospital.

Salama’s killing comes exactly two weeks after five journalists from the TV network were killed during the late hours mid this month.

Among the fallen were Anas Al Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh; reporters whose relentless frontlines coverage had been a vital thread in weaving the stories of the Gaza war into the global conversation.

The journalists were inside a tent set up at the hospital’s main gate, a sanctuary for those bearing witness to the war’s harsh realities, when the strike turned that refuge into a scene of devastation.

Alongside Al Sharif and Qreiqeh, cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa were also killed, their loss marking a grim toll on the journalistic community covering the conflict.

As of mid this month, Mahmoud Bassal, Gaza’s Civil Defence spokesman, said the death toll in the latest attack stood at 14, including journalists.

Since October 2023, more than 200 journalists and media workers have been killed by Israeli forces, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, making it the deadliest ever conflict for journalists.

Journalists have been gathering in hospitals from the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza, seeking relatively steady internet service, electricity, and safety in numbers.

Locals said journalists have been stationed and reporting from Nasser Hospital throughout the conflict.

Experts told Al Jazeera in September last year that Israel’s killing of journalists in Gaza shows a clear pattern of targeting journalists.

“There’s nothing new in the Israeli occupation’s crimes against journalists,” Jad Shahrour, spokesperson for the Samir Kassir Foundation, a Beirut-based media freedom watchdog, told Al Jazeera.

“This isn’t the first time during this war, from October 7 to today, whether in Lebanon or Gaza, the Israeli army has directly targeted journalists’ centres. This, of course, according to international law, is a war crime, and nothing justifies it,” he added.