Latest news with #al-Wahidi
CBS News
04-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Israeli strike on Gaza school allegedly kills 31 Palestinians, many kids, but IDF says it hit Hamas
Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip — Israeli airstrikes killed at least 100 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including 31 or more who were sheltering at a school, according to medics in the Hamas-ruled enclave, in a stepped-up offensive that Israel's military says is intended to pressure Hamas to free hostages and eventually expel the militant group. The bodies of 14 children and five women were recovered from the school in the Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City, and the death toll could rise because some of the 70 wounded sustained critical injuries, said Health Ministry spokesman Zaher al-Wahidi. The Civil Defense rescue agency in Gaza said Friday that at least 31 people were killed in the strike on the school, with around 100 others injured. More than 30 other Gaza residents were killed in strikes on homes in the nearby neighborhood of Shijaiyah, al-Wahidi said, citing records at Ahli Hospital. The Israeli military said it struck a "Hamas command and control center" in the Gaza City area, and that it took steps to lessen harm to civilians. Israel gave the same reason — striking Hamas militants in a "command and control center" — for attacking a United Nations building used as a shelter a day earlier, killing at least 17 people. Hamas, which had long been designated a terrorist organization by Israel and the U.S. even before it carried out the brutal Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza , called the strike on the school a "heinous massacre" of innocent civilians. Israel has long accused Hamas of hiding weapons and fighters in and around civilian infrastructure, but the Israel Defense Forces provided no immediate evidence to back up its claim that Hamas commanders were present in the Gaza school or the U.N. building it bombed this week. The strikes came as Israel's military ordered more residents in parts of northern Gaza to evacuate west and south to shelters, warning that it planned to "work with extreme force in your area." A number of the Palestinians fleeing the targeted areas did so on foot, with some carrying their belongings on their backs and others using donkey carts. "My wife and I have been walking for three hours covering only one kilometer," said Mohammad Ermana, 72. The couple, clasping hands, each walked with a cane. "I'm searching for shelters every hour now, not every day," he said. Israel has issued sweeping evacuation orders for parts of northern Gaza ahead of expected expansions in its ground operations. The U.N. humanitarian office said around 280,000 Palestinians have been displaced since Israel abruptly ended a ceasefire with Hamas last month that had been brokered by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar. The fresh evacuation orders came a day after senior government officials said Israel would seize large parts of the Palestinian territory and establish a new security corridor across it. Israel has imposed a monthlong blockade on food, fuel and humanitarian aid on Gaza that has left civilians facing acute shortages as supplies dwindle — a tactic that rights groups say is a war crime. Israel says it is intended to pressure Hamas to release hostages and disarm. Hamas has said it will only release the remaining 59 hostages — 24 of whom are believed to be alive — in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The group has rejected demands that it lay down its arms or leave the territory. Overnight strikes by Israel killed at least 55 people in the Gaza Strip, hospital officials said Thursday. In the southern city of Khan Younis, officials said the bodies of 14 people had been taken to Nasser Hospital – nine of them from the same family. The dead included five children and four women. The bodies of another 19 people, including five children aged between 1 and 7 years and a pregnant woman, were taken to the European hospital near Khan Younis, hospital officials said. In Gaza City, 21 bodies were taken to Ahli hospital, including those of seven children. Later in the day, strikes killed four more people in Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital, and another two people were killed in central Gaza and taken to Al Aqsa Hospital. The attacks came as the Israeli military promised an independent investigation of a March 23 operation in which its forces opened fire on ambulances in southern Gaza . U.N. officials say 15 Palestinian medics and emergency responders were killed, and their bodies and ambulances were buried by Israeli soldiers in a mass grave. The military initially said the ambulances were operating suspiciously and that nine militants were killed. The military said the probe would be led by an expert fact-finding body "responsible for examining exceptional incidents" during the war. Rights groups say such Israeli investigations are often lacking and that soldiers are rarely punished. The head of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, Younes Al-Khatib, said Thursday he believed some of the medics were still alive when they were overtaken by Israeli forces. The organization's radio dispatchers heard a conversation in Hebrew between medics and Israeli soldiers after the ambulances had come under fire, Al-Khatib told members of the U.N. Security Council. Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, told the U.N. Security Council he was turning over a video he obtained, allegedly showing the moments leading up to the Israeli killing of 15 humanitarian workers in Gaza. Mansour said the video shows that the aid workers, including eight members of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, were traveling in emergency vehicles with the lights on at night to deconflict with Israeli Defense Forces. But, Mansour said, the video "found on the body of one of the martyrs," shows that the Israeli army ambushed the vehicle despite the emergency lights. Israel's war in Gaza has killed more than 50,400 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry, which doesn't say whether those killed are civilians or combatants but says more than half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence. The war has left most of Gaza in ruins and at its height displaced around 90% of the population. The war began when Israel retaliated immediately for the Hamas-led terrorist attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw 251 others taken as hostages back into Gaza, most of whom have since been released in ceasefire agreements and other deals. Israel rescued eight living hostages and has recovered dozens of bodies.
The Intercept
27-03-2025
- Politics
- The Intercept
Gaza Journalist Fadi al-Wahidi Avoided Israel's 'Red' Zone. Israel Shot Him Anyway.
Support Us © THE INTERCEPT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Al Jazeera cameraman Fadi al-Wahidi is carried to the hospital after being shot in an Israeli attack on Jabalia, Gaza Strip, on Oct. 9, 2024. Photo: Hamza Z. H. Qraiqea/Anadolu via Getty In partnership with This investigation, conducted by Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, is part of the Gaza Project, a collaboration involving over 40 journalists from 12 organizations coordinated by Forbidden Stories. The image of Al Jazeera cameraman Fadi al-Wahidi lying motionless on the pavement quickly spread among journalists in Gaza. His press vest is visible but it turned out to be useless; he was shot in the neck, just above the flak jacket. It was October 9, 2024, and al-Wahidi had been reporting on the displacement of Palestinian families in Jabalia in the northern Gaza. The al-Saftawi neighborhood, where he was working, had been designated by the Israeli military as a 'yellow' zone, outside of the 'red' evacuation area. In video footage of that day, gunfire erupts. Moments later, al-Wahidi lies on the ground, unmoving. His colleagues are unable to reach him immediately for fear of being shot themselves. The image of al-Wahidi lying motionless recalled the lifeless body of Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian American journalist who was killed by the Israeli military in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin in May 2022 — another journalist in a press vest, shot while reporting. 'Fadi, Fadi, Fadi is injured!' Imam Bader, a journalist on the scene that day, shouts in one video, his voice thick with anguish. 'Fadi, do you hear me? Move if you can,' he calls out, crouching behind a white car near where al-Wahidi lay. 'Oh God, oh God!' Islam Bader, a journalist with Al Araby TV, was across the street. 'We felt like the gunfire was right over our heads,' he said. 'The bullets didn't stop. They were chasing us. But in that moment, you can't look around, you can't tell what's happening. I crossed the street, and suddenly I heard the guys shouting, 'Fadi, Fadi!' I was trying to make sense of what was going on, and they said Fadi had fallen.' Six journalists, including al-Wahidi, said in interviews that they were directly targeted despite standing in broad daylight, wearing press vests, and reporting from a 'yellow' zone. Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, The Intercept, and their partners geolocated the position of the journalists that day, confirming they were approximately 650 meters outside the evacuation zone. In several videos, the flak jackets are clearly marked 'PRESS.' 'We were shot at directly,' al-Wahidi said from his hospital bed in Gaza, before his evacuation from the Strip. 'Even now in my ears, the bullets are bouncing off the door next to me, into the walls next to me.' 'We were fully identifiable as journalists,' said Mohammed Shaheen, a journalist for Al Jazeera Mubasher, who was also there that day. 'The gunfire was aimed directly at us.' A video taken by al-Wahidi himself — obtained by ARIJ, The Intercept, and their partners but never posted online — captured the last 16 seconds before he was hit. He's running, filming in selfie mode, when the screen jolts and the video cuts off. Al-Wahidi and his colleagues weren't the only journalists attacked in Jabalia that day. A kilometer way, about half an hour earlier, Mohammed al-Tanani, a cameraman for Al Aqsa TV, was killed in an airstrike. Tamer Lubbad, the channel's correspondent, was injured in the same attack. They, too, were in the 'yellow' zone designated by the Israeli military, according to Lubbad. 'It's clear to everyone that we are journalists,' Lubbard said, noting that they were wearing press gear. 'We were targeted.' Only three days earlier in Jabalia, 19-year-old journalist Hassan Hamad became the youngest reporter killed by Israeli forces during the war in Gaza. Five journalists, including al-Wahidi, said they were directly fired at by a 'quadcopter' drone, despite wearing press vests and reporting in the daylight from a safe zone. Geolocation shows al-Wahidi and his colleagues were outside the 'red' evacuation area, in the 'yellow' zone designated by the Israeli military the day before the attack. Based on forensic analysis, experts and doctors believe the bullet that struck al-Wahidi's neck was a high-velocity round, likely fired from above. Despite numerous witness accounts, the use of sniper drones in Gaza remains unverified through video or photos, though Israel possesses the technology. The Israeli military has not responded to questions about al-Wahidi's case but said it does not target journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, has said the war in Gaza is the deadliest conflict for journalists the organization has ever documented. At least 165 Palestinian journalists have been killed since October 2023, according to the organization. Other groups, like the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, put the number of Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza at above 200. The death toll of the 18-month war now exceeds the number of journalists of any nationality killed during World War II, which lasted six years. The precise number of journalists wounded since the start of the war remains unclear. CPJ puts the figure at 59, though the true number is likely higher due to challenges in documentation. Journalists in Gaza have long said they were being targeted by Israeli forces. Since October 2023, Reporters Without Borders has filed four complaints with the International Criminal Court accusing Israel of committing war crimes against journalists. The organization says it has 'reasonable grounds to believe that some of these journalists were deliberately killed.' The Israeli military has repeatedly denied targeting journalists, including in a statement to the consortium for this story, but has also accused some of the journalists of having connections to militant groups, without providing substantiated evidence. The Israeli military did not respond to specific questions about al-Wahidi's case, but a spokesperson said military officials 'outright reject the allegation of a systemic attack on journalists.' The spokesperson said they cannot address 'operational directives and regulations as they are classified' but added that commanders adhere to law of armed conflict. Irene Khan, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of expression, has documented cases of journalists who said they were targeted. 'There have been clearly cases,' she said, 'where I have taken testimony from journalists who were injured, perhaps, or those who were around in that area where it's very clear that they were targeted.' 'I was filming a report for my colleague Anas al-Sharif,' al-Wahidi recalled of the moments before the attack. 'We were surprised by a drone [that] appeared and fired directly at us.' The six journalists interviewed all said they were fired on by Israeli drones — what Palestinians in Gaza commonly refer to as a 'quadcopter,' referring to four rotors, but used as a catchall for drones that carry firearms. Shaheen, the Al Jazeera Mubasher journalist, said that when the quadcopter fires, 'it's precise, not random. The gunfire hit exactly where the journalists were standing.' Read our complete coverage The existence of sniper drone technology is well-documented, and Israel has been developing it since at least 2017. Yet, despite widespread accounts of attacks from people in Gaza and witnesses to their aftermath, no visual or photographic evidence of the weapon has emerged. (The Israeli military did not respond to the consortium's questions about whether sniper drones were being used in Gaza.) James Patton Rogers, a drone expert at Cornell University, said the technology exists and will likely be deployed in the future but emphasized that without footage, he cannot confirm its use in Gaza The Palestinian journalists, for their part, don't need to wait for confirmation. 'We lived through it, we didn't just see it,' said Shaheen. 'No one dares to raise a camera, as you never know where it might strike next,' said Islam Bader, who is certain the journalists were fired on by a drone. 'Without a shadow of a doubt, it came from a quadcopter.' The journalists said they have learned to distinguish between the constant hum of surveillance drones, which they have grown accustomed to, and the sharper, unique reports of firing 'quadcopters.' 'The sound of the drone's fire is distinct,' said Imam Bader, 'and the shots and the sound of the gunfire comes from above.' ARIJ, The Intercept, and their partners obtained and reviewed multiple medical reports detailing the devastating impact of the bullet that struck al-Wahidi. The two surgeons who operated on the journalist in Gaza — a vascular surgeon and a neurosurgeon — said a single bullet entered from the front-left side of his neck, just above his vest, and exited at a lower point in the back, near the upper vertebrae of his spinal cord, damaging them as it passed through. Jinan Khatib, a forensic expert accredited by the Lebanese Ministry of Justice, reviewed CT scans and photos of al-Wahidi's wounds and told the consortium that one could 'reasonably conclude that the bullet was fired from a higher level in relation to the victim.' Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta, a professor of conflict medicine at the American University of Beirut, who was in Gaza during the early months of the war, also reviewed the images and reports. 'The injury is consistent with a high-velocity gunshot wound,' he concluded. 'The bullet was fired from above, because the entry point is higher in the neck than the area of damage in the spine, so it's a downward trajectory of the bullet.' Islam Bader was the first to reach al-Wahidi after he was shot. Journalists at the scene carried him to the car and rushed to the Baptist Hospital in Gaza. Al-Tanani and Lubbad, the other journalists killed and injured in Jabalaia that day, were brought to the same hospital. Al-Wahidi suffered severe injuries. The spinal injury left him unable to move his lower body. Two surgeries stabilized him, but Gaza's health care system, which is damaged by repeated Israeli attacks on hospitals, lacked the resources for his treatment. Medical supplies were running low, and hospitals were overwhelmed. He needed to be evacuated. Israel refused, citing security concerns, but the calls for his evacuation grew. U.N. human rights officials issued a joint statement demanding his immediate transfer. 'Israel has an obligation under international law to facilitate that right,' they wrote. The Israeli Ministry of Defense unit responsible for civilian life in the Occupied Territories denied the request, according to the statement. (The Ministry of Defense did not respond to requests for comment.) Al-Wahidi was only allowed to leave after a ceasefire was brokered. On February 8, 2025 — 122 days after he was shot — he traveled to Egypt. It's unclear what about al-Wahidi's status — or the purported security threat he posed — had changed. Al Jazeera cameraman Fadi Al-Wahidi receives treatment at a hospital in Cairo, Egypt, on Feb. 10, 2025, months after being shot by Israeli forces while covering events in the northern Gaza Strip. Photo:For weeks after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect in January, no journalists in Gaza were killed. On March 15, however, while the ceasefire was still in effect, at least seven people, including at least two journalists, were killed in two Israeli strikes in Beit Lahia. Israel took credit for the killings and accused the journalists, without evidence, of being members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. (The Israeli military declined a request for more information.) Just two nights later, on March 18, Israel launched a wave of airstrikes across Gaza, killing more than 400 people in a single night and effectively ending the ceasefire. On March 24, two journalists were killed within hours: Palestine Today correspondent Mohammed Mansour and Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent Hossam Shabat. As the war returned in full force, journalists once again fear for their lives. Al-Wahidi turned 25 last January. As a result of his injuries, he said, he feels like his hands have electric currents running through them; it keeps him up at night. 'The painkillers don't work,' he says, his voice frail. In photos from his hospital beds in Gaza, Cairo, and now Doha, however, al-Wahidi is almost always smiling — a smile that belies the way a single bullet permanently reshaped his life. 'Since the injury, I can't walk. I can't do anything,' he said. 'And that's been my reality. I hope that I can walk again, so I can go back to planning the future I was dreaming of.' With additional reporting from Zarifa Abou Qoura of ARIJ; Anouk Aflalo Doré, Frédéric Métézeau, Mariana Abreu, Youssr Youssef, and Samer Shalabi of Forbidden Stories; Nicolás Pablo Grone, Yassin Musharbash, and Luisa Hommerich of Die Zeit; and Carlos Gonzales of Bellingcat. Join The Conversation
