KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — The on-air outburst of grief by TV correspondent Salman al-Bashir appeared to channel the temper of all Gaza.
From the crowded halls of Nasser Hospital within the southern Gaza Strip late Thursday, al-Bashir was reporting on the waves of wounded and lifeless Palestinians arriving from Israel’s heavy bombardment on the southern strip.
One of many victims, loaded into the hospital morgue with 10 of his members of the family, was his personal colleague, veteran Palestine TV correspondent Mohammed Abu Hatab, 49. A mere hour earlier, Abu Hatab had delivered a reside report on the Israel-Hamas warfare’s casualties from that very location for Palestine TV, a community owned by the West Financial institution-based Palestinian Authority, Hamas’ political rival.
Looking for phrases to explain what Abu Hatab’s loss meant to him and to the community, al-Bashir cracked with emotion. He broke down, his voice holding sorrow and weariness in gruff, pleading phrases.
“We cant take it anymore, we’re exhausted,” al-Bashir mentioned. “We’re going to be killed. One after the other.”
The Ramallah-based anchorwoman on the break up display started to weep.
Al-Bashir was flushed, pacing backward as he mentioned the world was ignoring the warfare’s staggering toll on Gaza civilians.
“Nobody is taking a look at us or the extent of this catastrophe or the crimes that we’re experiencing in Gaza,” he mentioned. Nonetheless holding his microphone, he slid off his flak jacket marked with the phrase PRESS and unstrapped his helmet.
“These safety jackets and helmets do not shield us,” he mentioned, flinging the tools to the bottom. “Nothing protects journalists. … We lose our lives for no cause.”
His phrases, streamed reside by Palestine TV, ricocheted round social media.
Since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, the Israeli army’s retaliation has killed over 9,000 Palestinians and wounded 1000’s extra, says the Well being Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. Amongst them have been 31 journalists and media employees, in response to the Committee to Defend Journalists, a New York-based watchdog. The Well being Ministry reported that over 112 docs and medics are additionally among the many lifeless. Hamas militants killed greater than 1,400 folks in Israel on Oct. 7, most of them civilians.
At 8:30 p.m. Thursday, after signing off from a reside report on Gaza’s hovering dying toll, Abu Hatab headed to his close by dwelling in Khan Younis the place he lived along with his spouse, six youngsters, brother and brother’s household, his colleagues mentioned.
On his manner, he spoke to the Palestine TV bureau chief, Rafat Tidra.
“He was so skilled, as at all times,” Tidra mentioned. “In that dialog, he was targeted on what he was going to report the subsequent day, how we have been going to work.”
At round 9:30, an Israeli airstrike hit his home, wiping out the Abu Hatab household. Nobody survived. His neighbor’s homes solely sustained restricted injury from the blast.
When requested, Israeli army spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht mentioned he was “not conscious of experiences” of Abu Hatab’s dying. Israel says it goes after militants, not civilians, and blames Hamas for working in densely populated residential areas. Israel’s floor offensive in northern Gaza, which started every week in the past, is aimed toward toppling Gaza’s Hamas rulers. On the identical time, airstrikes throughout the territory have continued unabated.
Abu Hatab’s colleagues at Palestine TV, the place he spent 26 years reporting, have been in shock Friday. They remembered him as a quiet and delicate man who introduced do-it-yourself hummus to worn-down journalists camped exterior Nasser Hospital throughout the warfare, at the same time as Israel’s tight siege made meals and water more durable to seek out.
When the warfare first erupted, he sprang into motion and by no means stopped working, his colleagues mentioned.
“He was reside on air the entire time overlaying Khan Younis, his metropolis, his folks, easy folks,” mentioned Nasser Abu Bakr, the top of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Journalists Syndicate and Abu Hatab’s long-time good friend.
Abu Bakr was unsettled after their remaining telephone dialog the evening earlier than his dying. He mentioned Abu Hatab sounded weary and depressed.
“He informed me, ‘All the pieces is horrible. ‘I do not know once I will probably be killed,’” Abu Bakr recalled.
Earlier than hanging up, he mentioned, Abu Hatab had one final request: “Please, please, pray that God protects us.”
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DeBre reported from Jerusalem.
