“We will get killed, it is just a matter of when…These uniforms and helmets don’t protect us. Nothing protects journalists,” said Palestine TV reporter Salman Al Bashir, while removing his press vest and helmet on-air, while the news channel’s anchor sobbed in the studio.
The two journalists had lost their colleague journalist Mohammed Abu Hatab moments ago, in an Israeli airstrike on his home in South Gaza’s Khan Younis on November 2. Eleven members of his family were also killed.
Until half an hour ago, he had been reporting alongside Bashir from Gaza’s Nasser Hospital.
Haftab has joined a list of at least 31 journalists who have been killed in the Israel-Palestine violence since October 7, as per the Committee to Protect Journalists. Of these, four were killed in Israel, one in Lebanon and 26 in Gaza. More than 10,000 people have been reportedly killed in Gaza, while the toll in Israel is over 1,400.
Meanwhile, as Haftab’s death sent shockwaves in the newsroom, Bashir said: “No protection. No international protection at all.”
We can’t take it anymore, we’re exhausted… We’re gonna get killed, it’s just a matter of when. There’s no protection, no impunity. These PPEs don’t protect us. Nothing protects journalists. We lose lives, one by one… Mohammed Abu Hatab was here, half an hour ago. pic.twitter.com/Ox8Wrrqsf9
— Rania Zabaneh (@RZabaneh) November 2, 2023
“We can’t bear this anymore. We are exhausted, we are here victims and martyrs awaiting our deaths, we are dying one after the other and no one cares about us or the large-scale catastrophe and the crime in Gaza…No protection, no international protection at all, no immunity to anything, this protection gear does not protect us and not those helmets. These are just slogans that we are wearing, it doesn’t protect any journalist at all,” he said, as his voice cracked.
The CPJ said it is investigating “numerous” unconfirmed cases of killed, missing or detained journalists.
Many of the journalists killed in the conflict were at work, trying to make audiences across the world aware of the horrors of war despite obstacles to their work. From a mother of three to a reporter known for their “empathy”, these journalists also lived a life off the camera. Read all about it here.
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