The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Thursday confirmed of carrying out an airstrike targeting “Hamas terrorist infrastructure” in Gaza where 12 members of an Al Jazeera journalist’s family were killed the previous day.
The strike hit a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, where relatives of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Al-Dahdouh were taking shelter after being displaced, CNN quoted the Qatar-based news network as saying.
Al-Dahdouh’s wife, son, daughter and grandson were among those killed.
“Strikes on military targets are subject to relevant provisions of international law, including the taking of feasible precautions to mitigate civilian casualties,” the IDF said in a statement to CNN on Thursday.
“Regarding this specific case, the IDF targeted Hamas terrorist infrastructure in the area.”
The family’s displacement followed Israel’s evacuation call ordering some 1 million people to move to the southern part of the besieged enclave on October 13, Xinhua news agency reported.
Footage on Al Jazeera English news channel shows Al-Dahdouh entering a hospital to see his slain family members.
In a statement on X, Al Jazeera confirmed the death of Al-Dahdouh’s family members and extended condolence.
“The Al Jazeera Media Network extends its sincere condolences and sympathy to our colleague Weal Al-Dahdouh on the loss of his family in an Israeli airstrike,” the statement said.
“Al Jazeera is deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of our colleagues in Gaza and hold the Israeli authorities responsible for their security,” it added.
According to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, 24 journalists have been killed, some with their families, and dozens more have been wounded since the beginning of the Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip in retaliation to the massive Hamas attack on October 7.
The ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict has so far killed more than 6,500 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and more than 1,400 people in Israel.–(IANS)
