Gaza journalist death toll reaches 105 as Israel expands assault

The number of journalists killed in Gaza by Israel since the outbreak of war has reached 105, according to the government media office in the strip.

Among them are Mohammad Khair al-Din and Ahmed Khair al-Din who were killed by "Israeli treachery" in Gaza, the office was cited as saying by Turkish news agency Anadolu.

It means more than one journalist has been killed a day on average since the launch of Israel's war on the strip.

Israel's relentless military campaign has killed more than 21,300 people in Gaza, with over 55,600 others injured.

Places of worship, residential buildings, ambulances, and hospitals have come under attack.

Israeli forces also detained Diaa al-Kahlout, the Gaza bureau chief for ­The New Arab's Arabic-language edition, earlier in December.

The senior al-Araby al-Jadeed journalist was rounded up alongside hundreds of other Palestinian men, including his brothers and other relatives, in the town of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza.

The newspaper called for his freedom in a statement posted to social media on Tuesday.

"We in the al-Araby al-Jadeed family demand the immediate release of our colleague Diaa al-Kahlout, correspondent and bureau chief for the al-Araby al-Jadeed website and newspaper in Gaza, who has been detained by the [Israeli] occupation army since 7 December 2023," the pan-Arab daily said.

"We also condemn and deplore the assassination, arrest, abuse, and torture journalists are being subjected to as they carry out their duty to convey the truth about the war crimes and genocide the occupation is committing in the Gaza Strip."

On Sunday, The New Arab reported that a young Palestinian recently released from Beersehba Prison had said he saw al-Kahlout in the Israeli detention facility.

The reporter may be transferred to Jerusalem like other Palestinians held in Beersheba.

Al-Kahlout was arrested at gunpoint, then stripped and beaten by Israeli forces.

He was forced to abandon his seven-year-old daughter, who has special needs.