GAZA: The head of a prominent media institution in Gaza and two other journalists were killed during the weekend in Israel’s offensive in the territory, their relatives said on Sunday, adding to the dozens of reporters who have died in the six-week conflict.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said the weekend deaths raised to 48 the number of journalists and media workers it had confirmed killed in the region since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli offensive.
The CPJ, whose list covers journalists killed on both sides of the conflict although most have been in Gaza, said it seeks at least two sources to verify each death. It said its list of those killed comprised 43 Palestinians, four Israelis and one Lebanese.
“Journalists across the region are making great sacrifices to cover this heart-breaking conflict. Those in Gaza, in particular, have paid, and continue to pay, an unprecedented toll and face exponential threats,” Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, said in an email to Reuters.
On Sunday, Belal Jadallah, a journalist and head of the board of the Press House-Palestine, a non-governmental organization, was killed and his pharmacist brother-in-law was seriously wounded, his sister and other relatives told Reuters.
Jadallah told his sister earlier on Sunday he was heading out of Gaza City toward the south. He was killed in the Zeitoun area of Gaza City, said his sister, who added that people who found him and took him to a medical center where he was declared dead said he had been killed by an Israeli tank shell.
Reuters could not independently verify this report or the report of the other two journalists killed this weekend.
Four of Jadallah’s relatives work for Reuters in Gaza or abroad. One of the journalists on CPJ’s list of those killed is Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah who was killed in Lebanon near the border with Israel on Oct. 13.
In addition to Jadallah, two freelance journalists — Hassouna Sleem and Sary Mansour — were killed on Saturday in an Israeli assault on Bureij refugee camp, in the center of the Gaza Strip, their relatives and Palestinian health officials said. The health officials said 17 people died in the incident.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the deaths of Jadallah or the others.
In the past, the Israeli military has said it was pursuing its offensive to dismantle Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack and it would look into individual cases at a later date. It has also said it makes every feasible effort to mitigate civilian harm.
The Press House-Palestine says on its website that its overall objective is to contribute to developing an “independent Palestinian media, that reflects the values of democracy and freedom of expression and its principles.”
Three more journalists killed in Gaza in Israeli offensive, relatives say
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Three more journalists killed in Gaza in Israeli offensive, relatives say
- On Sunday, journalist Belal Jadallah was killed and his pharmacist brother-in-law was seriously wounded, relatives say
- New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says weekend deaths raised the number of media workers killed to 48
Three brothers arrested over US embassy blast in Oslo
- The brothers, who were Norwegian citizens of Iraqi origin, had been arrested in Oslo and police were investigating the motive
- While none of the brother were previously known to police, Hatlo said investigators were not ruling out links to “criminal networks“
OSLO: Norwegian police said Wednesday three brothers had been arrested on suspicion of a “terrorist bombing” over a weekend explosion at the US embassy in Oslo, which caused minor damage but no injuries.
Police prosecutor Christian Hatlo told a press conference the brothers, who were Norwegian citizens of Iraqi origin, had been arrested in Oslo and that police were investigating the motive.
“We are still working from several hypotheses. One of them is whether this is an order from a government entity,” Hatlo said.
“This is quite natural given the target — the US embassy — and the security situation the world is in today,” he said.
Hatlo said the investigation would seek to clarify exactly what roles the brothers, who were in their 20s, had played.
“We believe that one of them is the person who placed the bomb outside the embassy and that the other two were complicit in the act,” Hatlo told reporters.
Oystein Storrvik, a lawyer for one of the suspects, told broadcaster TV 2 that his client had admitted “to being involved in the case.”
“He admits that he placed the bomb there,” Storrvik told the broadcaster.
Storrvik added that his client had been questioned by police.
“He has explained what happened, and I have no further comments at this time,” he said.
- ‘Proxy actors’ -
While none of the brother were previously known to police, Hatlo said investigators were not ruling out links to “criminal networks.”
In its annual threat assessment, Norwegian security service PST said last month that Iran, which it considers one of the main threats to the country, could rely on “proxy actors,” including “criminal networks,” to commit acts.
On Tuesday, Iran’s ambassador in Oslo denied any involvement by his country in the embassy explosion.
“It is unacceptable that we are being singled out,” Alireza Jahangiri told Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang.
According to police, the perpetrators of the bombing, described as “powerful,” may also have acted out of their own motives.
US embassies have been placed on high alert in the Middle East due to American strikes on Iran. Several have faced attacks as Tehran responds by targeting industrial and diplomatic facilities.
The blast took place at around 1:00 am (0000 GMT) on Sunday at the entrance to the embassy’s consular section.
On Monday, two images were released from surveillance camera footage showing a suspect dressed in dark clothing with a hood over his head and wearing a backpack.
Roughly at the time the incident occurred, a video had been uploaded to the Google Maps page for the US embassy.
The video, which has since been taken down, appeared to show Iran’s late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of the US-Israeli strikes in Iran.
According to Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, the person who uploaded the video wrote in Persian: “God is great. We are victorious.”
Police have also opened an investigation into this.
