Another Palestinian journalist has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, bringing the death toll to more than 160 since last October, the government media office in the Gaza Strip says.
Muhammad Jasser lost his life in an attack targeting his family house at the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Saturday.
Medical sources said the Israeli airstrike killed Jasser, his wife, and his two children, raising the number of Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza since October 7 last year to 161.
Hamas, in a statement, condemned the relentless Israeli airstrikes against unarmed civilians across the Gaza Strip.
“The United Nations is requested to act immediately and stop the Zionist enemy’s terrorism and crimes, which are directly supported by the US administration.
“We also demand the implementation of international resolutions, which call for the cessation of the Israeli aggression and an end to the tight blockade and Nazi starvation policy,” the statement read.
Hamas said the killing was the Israeli military's way of response to to the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) advisory opinion on the “unlawful” Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
The United Nations’ highest court said on Friday that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there are illegal and should be withdrawn as soon as possible.
Journalists operating in the Palestinian territory face increased dangers as they report on the conflict amidst Israeli ground assaults and airstrikes, disrupted communications, supply shortages, and power outages.
According to data and statistics from the International Committee to Protect Journalists, the Israeli war on Gaza has become “the bloodiest for journalists” since the committee began documenting journalist killings worldwide in 1992.
Last February, the International Center for Journalists announced that the war on Gaza had seen the highest levels of violence against journalists in 30 years.
The Washington-based organization called on Israel to stop killing journalists and to investigate incidents of their deaths at the hands of its forces.
Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after Palestinian resistance groups carried out a surprise retaliatory operation into the occupied territories.
The regime has also been enforcing a near-total siege on the coastal territory, which has reduced the flow of foodstuffs, medicine, electricity, and water into the Palestinian territory to a trickle.