AFP demands ‘investigation after freelancer killed in Israeli strike

PARIS: Agence France-Presse has demanded a “full and transparent investigation” into the death of Abdul Raouf Shaat, a regular contributor to the agency in the Gaza Strip who was killed in an Israeli strike alongside two other Palestinian journalists.
“Far too many local journalists have been killed in Gaza over the past two years while foreign journalists remain unable to enter the territory freely,” the agency said in a statement.
It expressed “immense sadness” at the death of the 34-year-old photo and video journalist, who was “a regular contributor to AFP’s production for nearly two years” and “much loved by the AFP team covering Gaza.”
He was killed on Wednesday along with colleagues Anas Ghneim and Mohammed Salah Qashta in the central Gaza Strip, where the Israeli army said it had targeted the operators of a drone deemed suspicious, adding that the details of the incident were still under review.
Since Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023 sparked the war in Gaza, nearly 220 journalists have been killed by Israel, making the Palestinian territory by far the deadliest place for journalists, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders data.