الاحتلال يستهدف ويقتل صحفيي الجزيرة إسماعيل الغول ورامي الريفي

Hours after reporting live for Al Jazeera, journalist Ismail al-Ghoul and cameraman Rami al-Rifi were targeted and killed by an Israeli airstrike in al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza. Their killing brings the total number of journalists slain since the beginning of the genocide to 165, according to the Gaza government media office. Four of whom have been Al Jazeera correspondents. 

The reporters were near the destroyed residence of assassinated political leader, Ismail Haniyeh reporting about his assassination in Iran. The attack also killed a child, Khaled Saed al-Shawa, as he was riding his bike through the destroyed refugee camp. al-Shawa was an only child. Israel has killed more than 15,000 Palestinian children in Gaza. This number could be much more, as estimated by The Lancet. 

Footage from the scene of the attack has gone viral, showing the state of the journalists’ car and corpses. Footage corroborated by eyewitnesses shows that al-Ghoul was decapitated due to the impact of the attack. In an emotional broadcast on Al Jazeera, journalist Hind al-Khoudary said that it is heartbreaking to report about her colleagues.

When asked about what safety precautions a journalist in Gaza must take while reporting, al-Khoudary tearily replied, “We do everything. … But we have been targeted in normal places where normal citizens are.”

Al-Ghoul, whose voice and presence have been carrying us throughout the last ten months of utmost devastation, decided to remain in the North of Gaza alone, separated from his family. After the invasion of the Strip, al-Ghoul and al-Rifi were key figures in providing the world with news, images, and context about the Israeli-manufactured genocide and famine. Like every murdered media worker before them, al-Ghoul and al-Refee’s legacies speak for themselves. Their determination has cost them the ultimate price and their sacrifice is a testament to the unity and selflessness that comes naturally for Palestinian journalists.

In March 2024, al-Ghoul was one of the people taken hostage by the IOF from al-Shifa Hospital, where he was detained for 12 hours and severely beaten. Even after being targeted and tortured, al-Ghoul never faltered and stayed devoted to his mission as a journalist. In both instances, that of his arbitrary detainment and his murder, al-Ghoul was working and wearing his press vest, clear for all to see. 

In Gaza, a press vest is more of a target than a protective shield. Al-Ghoul’s colleague, Anas al-Sharif stressed that the press vest did not protect Ismail, Rami, or any other media team killed by Israel. 

“This vest is covered in Ismail’s blood and remains, what did Ismail do?” al-Sharif said. “He reported [about] the situation? About people’s suffering?”

The International Federation of Journalists reported that 2023 was the deadliest year for journalists in over two decades, naming the start of the genocide in Gaza as a marker for the “soar[ing]” death toll. It also placed the Arab World, particularly Palestine, as the deadliest region for journalists.

Al Jazeera Media Network said that the killing of their reporters was a “targeted” and a “cold-blooded assassination.” They also reported that the head of the Government Media Office in Gaza said that the IOF knew who the two journalists were before “execut[ing] them in a heinous, barbaric way.” 

Mohamed Moawad, Al Jazeera channel’s managing editor paid tribute to al-Ghoul, writing on X, “Ismail was renowned for his professionalism and dedication, bringing the world’s attention to the suffering and atrocities committed in Gaza, especially in Al-Shifa Hospital and the northern neighborhoods.”

He added, “Without Ismail, the world would not have seen the devastating images of these massacres. Ismail was a determined journalist who refused to succumb to hunger, illness, and the loss of his brother. His voice has now been silenced, and there is no longer a need to call out to the world. Ismail fulfilled his mission to his people and his homeland. Shame on those who have failed the civilians, journalists, and humanity”

In Gaza, there is a pattern of journalists reporting on the current situation until they become the headline. Mere hours after al-Ghoul and al-Rifi covered the killing of Haniyeh, they became martyrs themselves. Palestinians everywhere mourn the devastating loss of these two heroes. Still, journalists in Gaza pledge that they will continue to cover the truth and expose Israel’s atrocities. 

“We will continue to report until the last journalist left standing,” says Wadea Abu al-Saoud.