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The tragedy in Gaza suddenly became very close to home for The Independent today, when we learnt the terrible news that Maryam Abu Daqqa, a photojournalist working for our partner site Independent Arabia, was among at least 20 people killed in an Israeli attack on Nassar Hospital in Khan Younis.
Maryam, who often based herself at the hospital, had a teenage son who was evacuated from Gaza earlier in the conflict. We echo the tribute from Independent Arabia, which said: “Maryam embodied dedication and professional integrity. She carried her camera to the forefront of events, bearing witness to the suffering of civilians and amplifying the voices of victims with rare honesty and bravery.”
The journalists among the victims at Nasser Hospital are no more important than any of the 62,000 Palestinians killed since the 7 October attacks, as estimated by the Hamas-led health ministry, whose figures are accepted outside Israel. But the death of Maryam and her colleagues is another painful reminder of the terrible risks facing the heroic local journalists bringing the horrific events in Gaza to the world’s attention. In some of her last dispatches for The Independent, for example, Maryam wrote movingly about the impact of the starvation and famine in the strip.
It is worth remembering that the world relies on these reporters because Israel does not allow international journalists into Gaza. Responding to the deaths, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it “regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and does not target journalists as such”. However, there is evidence that reporters are the subject of targeted assassinations as well as collateral damage in a war in which an estimated five out of six Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza are civilians – a rate rarely seen in modern warfare.
Two weeks ago, Anas al-Sharif, who worked for Al Jazeera, was killed in a state-sponsored assassination, along with four colleagues. The Israeli authorities claimed unconvincingly that he was a terrorist, a member of Hamas, and the leader of a cell.
The deaths bring to 196 the number of journalists killed during the conflict, 188 of them Palestinians, killed by Israel in Gaza, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Wearing “PRESS” flak jackets and helmets, they should have been accorded the normal protections afforded to all journalists.
As Sara Qudah, CPJ’s regional director, rightly put it: “These murders must end now. The perpetrators must no longer be allowed to act with impunity.” Thibaut Bruttin, director general of Reporters Without Borders, said: "They [the Israelis] are doing everything they can to silence independent voices that are trying to report on Gaza.”
Remarkably, the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs estimates that more journalists have been killed in Gaza than in both world wars, the Vietnam war, the wars in Yugoslavia, and the US’s war in Afghanistan combined.
Israel, it seems, is not interested in international laws protecting reporters or other civilians. In its shameful treatment of the media, it deserves to further alienate natural allies around the world, including the UK, whose initial instinct was to stand by Israel’s side after the horrific 2023 attacks on its soil.
Today, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, is increasingly isolated on the world stage – with the important exception of the US under Donald Trump. He might now be beyond caring about other countries and solely intent on remaining in power for as long as possible, which means preserving a coalition including the ultranationalists Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir.
For once, Mr Netanyahu should listen not to them but majority Israeli opinion, which wants the 20 surviving Israeli hostages and the bodies of others finally brought home. There is a ceasefire deal on the table, supported by Hamas, which could secure their release. When his security cabinet meets on Tuesday, Mr Netanyahu should opt for the deal and abandon his disastrous plan for a full-scale occupation of Gaza City.
Compounding the tragedy in Gaza, when there is a real opportunity to end it, would surely take Israel even closer to pariah status in the eyes of the international community.
