Abed Shaat drifted off to sleep on Sunday night, exhausted after covering Israeli air strikes all day.
The 33-year-old freelance photographer had returned to a tent in front of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza where he’d been based along with other journalists since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Then, they were jolted awake.
“I woke up to the sound of a huge explosion nearby,” Shaat said. “My colleagues and I immediately rushed out of the tent. [I had] my mobile phone to film.
“The strike had directly hit the journalists’ tent across from us. I was horrified – to target journalists like this!”
Burned to death
The tent belonged to the TV station Palestine Today.
“I started taking pictures from a distance, but as I got closer to the burning tent, I saw one of my colleagues on fire,” Shaat said.
“I couldn’t continue filming. I don’t even know how I summoned the courage to approach the flames and try to pull the burning person out.
“The fire was intense. There was a gas canister that had exploded, and another one that was burning. I tried to pull him out by his leg, but his pants tore off in my hand. I tried from another angle, but I couldn’t.
“The fire grew so strong, I fell back, I couldn’t bear it any longer. Then some of the men came with water to put the fire out.
“I suddenly felt really weak … and lost consciousness.”
Israel’s attack burned Palestine Today reporter Hilmi al-Faqaawi to death along with another man named Yousef al-Khazindar.
Journalists Hassan Eslaih, Ahmed al-Agha, Muhammad Fayek, Abdallah Al-Attar, Ihab al-Bardini and Mahmoud Awad were also injured.
The Israeli army said on X it had launched the attack to capture Hassan Abdel Fattah Muhammad Islayh (Eslaih), alleging he was a member of Hamas posing as a journalist.
Eslaih, a journalist with a large social media following, was badly wounded in the strike. He had been threatened multiple times by Israeli authorities for covering an attack on an Israeli kibbutz during the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
The Israeli army also said it took steps “to reduce the chance of harming civilians” but did not explain why it chose to bomb a tent full of sleeping journalists to capture one of them.
‘Nothing new in … crimes against journalists’
More than 200 journalists and media workers have been killed by Israeli forces since October 2023, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, making it the deadliest ever conflict for journalists.
The tent targeted on Monday was outside one of the largest hospitals in southern Gaza.
Journalists have been gathering in hospitals from the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza, seeking relatively steady internet service, electricity and safety in numbers. Locals said journalists have been stationed and reporting from Nasser Hospital throughout the conflict.
“We live, sleep and work there. We see each other more than we see our own families,” Shaat said. “What connects us … is more than just work.”
Experts told Al Jazeera in September that Israel’s killing of journalists in Gaza shows a clear pattern of targeting journalists.
“There’s nothing new in the Israeli occupation’s crimes against journalists,” Jad Shahrour, spokesperson for the Samir Kassir Foundation, a Beirut-based media freedom watchdog, told Al Jazeera.
“This isn’t the first time during this war, from October 7 to today, whether in Lebanon or Gaza, the Israeli army has directly targeted journalists’ centres.
“This, of course, according to international law, is a war crime, and nothing justifies it.”
Other journalists killed in Gaza since the start of the war include Al Jazeera Mubasher journalist Hossam Shabat and Al Jazeera reporter Hamza Dahdouh, son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh.
Both journalists were killed in targeted attacks on their cars, and Israel justified its actions by saying they were part of armed groups but did not provide evidence for the allegations.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed at least 50,700 people in Gaza, most of whom are children or women and, therefore, not considered members of “terrorist groups” in Israel’s classification. Many civilian men – a protected group under international law – have also been killed.
Reporters Without Borders told Al Jazeera it was investigating Monday’s attack.
Whose turn is it next?
Journalists in Gaza are walking with targets on their backs, media rights organisations said.
“Israel deliberately bombs journalists because it doesn’t want anyone to report the situation,” Shahrour said.
The idea, the groups said, is to discourage reporting of possible war crimes Israel is committing to allow Israel to avoid any accountability. The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate gave a news conference on Monday, calling for international accountability for Israel’s crimes against journalists in Gaza.
Speaking to Al Jazeera just after returning from al-Faqaawi’s funeral, Shaat spoke of the deep psychological scars the experience has left on him.
“Even now, I don’t feel I can move past what I saw. I never imagined in my life that I would be pulling someone while they were on fire.”
He sustained minor burns on both hands during the rescue attempt and now cannot hold a camera.
“I feel completely paralysed. … Who are we even doing this for? Does anyone care? Is there anything more horrific than this scene to move people?”
“This isn’t the first time someone has burned to death, and it’s not the first time journalists have been directly targeted,” Shaat said.
“We still don’t know whose turn it will be next.”
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