A video clip showed the two journalists immediately after the Israeli drone targeted them. They were wearing protective vests with the press mark visible.
Al-Jazeera correspondent Ismail Abu Omar and cameraman Ahmed Matar were seriously injured following an Israeli drone attack in the Mirage area, north of the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Al Jazeera correspondent reported that an Israeli drone fired at least one missile towards the two colleagues, which immediately led to the amputation of Abu Omar’s right leg and the severe injury of his left leg.
🚨 Government Media Office in Gaza:
“The occupation army deliberately targeted the Al Jazeera channel crew for the fifth time in a row in a complete crime in violation of international law, as it targeted fellow journalists Ismail Abu Omar and Ahmed Matar.
The targeting comes… pic.twitter.com/FnPoQypPFw
— Censored Voice. (@CensoredNws) February 13, 2024
Abu Omar also sustained severe injuries as a result of missile shrapnel throughout his body.
Al-Jazeera cameraman Ahmed Matar was also seriously injured.
The journalists were transported to a field hospital in the area for first aid before ambulances moved them to the European Hospital, where they are undergoing emergency surgeries.
A video clip obtained by Al-Jazeera showed the two journalists immediately after the Israeli drone targeted them. They were wearing protective vests with the press mark visible.
The government media office in the Gaza Strip announced on Monday that the number of journalists killed by Israel since October 7 has risen to 126.
🚨🔈BREAKING|
Israeli drone targeted two Al Jazeera journalists (Ismail AbuOmar & Ahmad Matar) while they were covering the realities in northern Rafah. Ismail’s legs were amputated and both journalists in critical condition.
(Correction to previous tweet)#Gaza #MediaUnderAtack pic.twitter.com/6Ny7KMCQZp— Al Jazeera Journalism Review (@AJR_English) February 13, 2024
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 28,473 Palestinians have been killed, and 68,106 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 8,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all of the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
(PC, AJA)
