Dozens of journalists at the funeral of Al-Jazeera reporter
Dozens of journalists participated on Saturday in the funeral of a cameraman from the Qatari channel Al-Jazeera, killed Friday by an Israeli strike in the south of the Gaza Strip, journalists from Agence France-Presse (AFP) noted. .
The remains of Samer Abou Daqqa, on which his bulletproof vest marked “press” and his helmet had been placed, were transported through the crowd to Khan Younes, before being buried in a hole dug by colleagues.
“Working in the press is dangerous”lamented the journalist’s mother, Oum Maher Abou Daqqa, accusing Israel of targeting “journalists, especially those who work for Al-Jazeera”.
Samer Abou Daqqa, born in 1978, was reporting in a school in Khan Younes when he was hit by an Israeli drone attack. Seriously injured, he remained for hours at the scene of the strike, because “Israeli forces prevented ambulances” to achieve this, according to the television channel.
The head of the Al-Jazeera bureau in Gaza, Wael Al-Dahdouh, was injured in the arm in the bombing that killed his colleague, a few weeks after losing his wife and two of his children in another Israeli bombing. “The occupation [Israël] doesn’t want the press, she deliberately targeted us. There was only the Al-Jazeera team and the civil defense in the area”Mr. Al-Dahdouh told AFP.
Three members of the civil defense were also killed, their funerals took place on Saturday in Khan Younes, according to AFP journalists on site.