---
title: "Israeli strike kills two Palestinian journalists in Gaza, health officials say"
description: "The death toll in the Israeli-Hamas war has risen following the reported death of two freelance journalists at the weekend."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "MIDDLE EAST WAR"
author: "Reuters"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/reuters/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-01-07-israeli-strike-kills-two-palestinian-journalists-in-gaza-health-officials-say/"
published: "2024-01-07T16:54:15"
updated: "2024-01-08T13:55:00"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 332
---

# Israeli strike kills two Palestinian journalists in Gaza, health officials say

> The death toll in the Israeli-Hamas war has risen following the reported death of two freelance journalists at the weekend.

By Reuters · Published 7 January 2024, 18:54 SAST · Updated 8 January 2024, 15:55 SAST

## Key points
- Two Palestinian journalists were killed in an Israeli air strike while reporting, adding to the already high death toll of 77 journalists and media workers killed in the Israel-Hamas war.
- Two Palestinian journalists killed in Israeli air strike in Gaza
- Wael Al-Dahdouh, father of one of the victims, vows to continue reporting
- 77 journalists and media workers killed since conflict began in October
- Reuters visuals journalist Issam Abdallah also died covering the conflict

## Content

CAIRO, Jan 7 (Reuters) - An Israeli air strike on a car near Rafah in southern Gaza on Sunday killed two Palestinian journalists who were out reporting, according to health officials in Gaza and the journalists' union there.

Hamza Al-Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya were both freelancers. Al-Dahdouh had done freelance work for Al Jazeera and was the son of the Qatar-based TV station's chief correspondent in Gaza, Wael Al-Dahdouh. A third freelancer, Hazem Rajab, was wounded.

The Israel Defence Forces did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strike.

**Read more in Daily Maverick**: [In the complex Israel-Hamas war, journalism is under steady fire](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-12-06-in-the-complex-israel-hamas-war-journalism-is-under-steady-fire/)

The Israel-Hamas war that started on Oct. 7 has been deadly for journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an international watchdog, said that as of Saturday, 77 journalists and media workers had been killed - 70 Palestinians, four Israelis and three Lebanese.

**Read more in Daily Maverick:**[Gaza strikes kill family members of journalist targeted by death threats](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-11-21-gaza-strikes-kill-family-members-of-journalist-targeted-by-death-threats/)

The Hamas-run Gaza government's media office said the two new deaths raised its own tally of journalists killed by the Israeli offensive to 109.

A video posted on an Al Jazeera-linked YouTube channel showed Wael Al-Dahdouh crying next to his son's body and holding his hand. Later, after his son's burial, he said in televised remarks that journalists in Gaza would keep doing their job.

"All the world needs to see what is happening here," he said.

Wael Al-Dahdouh is particularly well known to viewers across the Middle East after he learned during a live broadcast last month that his wife, another son, daughter and grandson had been killed in an Israeli air strike.

Among journalists who have died covering the conflict was Reuters visuals journalist Issam Abdallah. A Lebanese citizen, he was killed on Oct. 13 by an Israeli tank crew while filming cross-border shelling in Lebanon, a Reuters investigation has found. **DM/Reuters.**

*(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi Editing by Estelle Shirbon and Frances Kerry)*