Online Reporter
Ivan Zhakata
Herald Correspondent
PALESTINIAN Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Dr Tamer Almassri, has condemned the killing of prominent Palestinian journalist Hassan Islayeh during an Israeli airstrike on the burns unit of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza.
Islayeh, who had been recovering from injuries sustained during a previous Israeli strike that killed two fellow journalists, succumbed to a targeted attack in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
In an interview, Ambassador Almassri described the killing as a double crime by Israeli forces.
“This was an organised assassination,” he said. “They targeted a journalist inside a hospital – a man who was already wounded, a survivor of a previous airstrike. That is not just one war crime, that is two.”
Ambassador Almassri said Islayeh was the 215th journalist killed in Gaza since the beginning of the ongoing conflict, the highest number of media casualties in any conflict since World War II.
“Israel wants to kill us in the dark,” he said.
“They want the world to remain blind to the genocide unfolding in Gaza. They do not want anyone telling the stories of the victims, and they do not want the truth to be known.”
Islayeh had a following of over 600 000 on social media and was widely respected for his frontline reporting.
His voice, Ambassador Almassri said, was silenced not because of chance, but by design.
“He was a successful young journalist. Israel knew who he was. They killed him because he exposed their crimes.
“They fear the truth. And when the world fails to hold them accountable, they believe they can do anything, anywhere, anytime.”
The strike on the hospital, already struggling to care for Gaza’s wounded amid months of bombardment, has renewed calls for international intervention.
Ambassador Almassri urged global journalist unions, media watchdogs and human rights organisations to condemn the targeted killings of Palestinian journalists and pressure the international community to act.
“This cannot continue. Justice must be served. The silence of the world only encourages more bloodshed.
“The Palestinian people are not just numbers, they are human beings with stories, dreams and lives. And brave journalists like Hassan were their voices.”
