Al Jazeera Journalist's Family, In Gaza "Safe Area", Die In Israeli Strike

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His family was reportedly in the United Nations-recognised Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, which was called a “safe area” by Israeli forces.

Four members of Al Jazeera journalist Wael Al Dahdouh’s family – his wife, son and daughter – were killed in an “Israeli air strike” on Gaza, the network said Wednesday. Speaking to the network, he said, “… a big tragedy is (being) perpetrated against women and children… no less than a calamity.”

“Large numbers of people’s houses (are being) bombarded. However, this is a custom of the Israeli occupation. (But), at the end of the day, we are on this land. This is our destiny… this is our destiny and this is our choice and this is our patience… and we won’t deviate from this path.”

Mr Dahdouh, 53, is well-known journalist who has covered armed conflicts in the area, was helping broadcast live images of the war in Gaza when he received the devastating news.

The Israeli military has not yet commented on these deaths.

Mr Dahdouh’s family are among the millions of civilians displaced by Israel’s war on Gaza.

The broadcaster said Mr Dahdouh’s family were in a temporary home after evacuating Gaza City following Israel’s warning for residents to move south as its forces intensifies strikes on the Hamas.

His family was reportedly in the United Nations-recognised Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, which was called a “safe area” by Israeli forces.

However, Tel Aviv has continued military strikes in this region and others in southern Gaza, spreading fear among the evacuees that they are just as vulnerable here as they were in their homes in the north.

Al Jazeera, which is owned by the Qatari state and is deeply critical of Israel’s war, said it “strongly condemns the indiscriminate targeting and killing of innocent civilians in Gaza”.

“The indiscriminate assault by Israeli Occupation forces resulted in the tragic loss of his (Mr Dahdouh’s) wife, son and daughter, while the rest of his family is buried under rubble. We urge the international community to intervene and put an end to attacks on civilians…” the network said.

Israeli strikes have killed around 6,500 people in Gaza, a rise of more than 700 since Tuesday, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The attacks come after a brutal terror strike by Hamas gunmen on October 7, in which over 1,400 people, including civilians, were killed.

The Qatari broadcaster later aired visuals of a grief-stricken Mr Dahdouh at the morgue in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Palestine’s Deir el-Balah, to see his 15-year-old son, seven-year-old daughter, and two-year-old grandson. Others, including an infant granddaughter, escaped.