The office noted that the martyrdom of the six journalists came two days after the Israeli government approved, early Friday morning, a plan to occupy the entire Gaza Strip, as part of what the office described as a "war of genocide" now in its 22nd month.
In an official statement, the Government Media Office in Gaza condemned in the strongest terms what it described as the "brutal, heinous, and horrific crime" committed by the Israeli occupation army, which assassinated six journalists after a direct bombardment targeted a journalists' tent near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
In another statement on Monday morning, the office announced that "the number of martyred journalists has risen to 238, following the announcement of the martyrdom of journalist Mohammed Al-Khalidi, joining his five fellow journalists killed in yesterday's massacre."
He explained that "Al-Khalidi worked as a journalist with the Sahat platform, and was the sixth martyr to ascend in a horrific massacre committed by the Israeli occupation forces when they directly bombed a journalists' tent near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City."
He pointed out that Al-Khalidi was added "to the five journalist martyrs: Al Jazeera (Qatari) correspondents Anas Al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqea, photojournalists Ibrahim Zaher and Moamen Aliwa, and their assistant Mohammed Noufal."
He added that the "assassination operation" was carried out with "premeditation and deliberation," through a "deliberate, deliberate, and direct targeting" of the journalists' tent near Al-Shifa Hospital. The attack also resulted in the injury of a number of other journalists.
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The office confirmed that "with the assassination of the six fellow journalists," the number of "journalism martyrs" killed in the Gaza Strip during what it described as "genocide" has risen to 238 journalists to date.
The statement noted that "the targeting of journalists and media institutions by occupation aircraft constitutes a full-fledged war crime," and considered that this targeting "was intended to silence the truth and obscure the traces of genocide crimes," and represents "a prelude to the occupation's criminal plan to cover up the past and future brutal massacres it has carried out and intends to carry out in the Gaza Strip."
In its statement, the Gaza government held the Israeli occupation, along with the US administration and countries involved in the genocide, fully responsible for these "systematic crimes" against journalists and media professionals in the Gaza Strip.
The statement called on the International Federation of Journalists, the Arab Journalists Union, and all international journalistic and human rights organizations around the world to "condemn these crimes" and "take urgent action to ensure full protection for Palestinian journalists and media institutions in Gaza," while ensuring that the occupation leaders are held accountable for their crimes against press freedom and the right to access information.
With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, including killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, ignoring all international calls and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt it.
The genocide left 61,258 Palestinian martyrs and 152,045 wounded, most of them children and women. More than 9,000 people were missing, hundreds of thousands were displaced, and a famine killed 2,017 people, including 100 children.
