Palestinian journalists in northern Gaza targeted by Israeli drone as siege intensifies

A group of Palestinian journalists were hit in an Israeli drone strike on Wednesday while reporting in northern Gaza, the second attack on media workers in the besieged enclave over the past week.

Al Jazeera Arabic cameraman Fadi Al-Wheidi was reportedly shot in the neck by an Israeli quadcopter as the team were working in the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza, which has been beset by heavy fighting after Israel launched a ground invasion earlier this week.

Al-Wheidi is being treated for serious injuries in hospital, his Al Jazeera Arabic colleague Anas al-Sharif told reporters.

Earlier this week another Al Jazeera cameraman, Ali al-Attar, was hit by shrapnel and is in a critical condition at the European Gaza Hospital, his colleagues said. There are international calls for his immediate evacuation from Gaza so he could receive urgent medical care.

Hospitals in Gaza are struggling to cope with a siege on the enclave, mass casualties, and repeated eviction orders by Israeli forces.

Al-Attar was wounded when a bomb hit a police checkpoint near Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in Deir al-Balah where journalists’ tents were set up, Al Jazeera said.

In a statement on Wednesday the pan-Arab broadcaster strongly condemned the attack, calling it a "another grave violation against journalists in Gaza".

"The deliberate targeting of journalists is a flagrant violation of international laws protecting the press and humanitarian workers in war zones," the network said.

Four journalists from the network have been killed in Gaza with Israel claiming its staff have links to Hamas or other Palestinian armed groups, allegations the network outright rejects.

Also this week,  Al-Aqsa TV said its photojournalist Mohammad al-Tanani was killed and reporter Tamer Lubbad injured in an attack in Jabalia.

At least 128 journalists have been killed by Israeli fire since the war on Gaza began in October 2023, marking the highest number of media workers to have been killed in a conflict since records began, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have said.

Israel recently intensified its bombardment of northern areas of the territory and on Wednesday ordered 400,000 Palestinians to leave the towns of Beit Lahia, Jabalia and Beit Lahoun. Heavy fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups has been reported with Israel besieging the area and trapping civilians there.

International humanitarian agencies have warned it could spark a further humanitarian crisis with aid access and supplies into the territory still disrupted. British charity in Gaza, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), warned on Wednesday of the "erasure of the Palestinian presence in northern Gaza".

At least 70,000 people have been displaced after the Israeli military announced on 6 October it would begin a new military operation into Jabalia. The UN has warned that humanitarian access to the area is becoming more dangerous, leaving people without access to food and water supplies.

The UN Human Rights Office said on Monday that the fighting in north Gaza and mass evacuation orders were "inconsistent with international humanitarian law" and raised serious concerns about the "forced transfer of Palestinian residents of Gaza".

Three hospitals in the north, Al Awda, Indonesian and Kamal Adwan hospitals, have also been forced to evacuate leaving health workers struggling to care for critically-ill patients, MAP reported.