On a Saturday in June 2026, an Israeli airstrike directed at a residential property in Gaza’s central Al-Bureij refugee camp claimed the life of Ahmed Samir Wishah, a veteran Palestinian journalist and cameraman working for Al Jazeera. Local Al Jazeera correspondents on the ground confirmed Wishah was one of two fatalities from the raid, which also left at least one additional Palestinian wounded.
Al Jazeera issued an immediate, forceful statement condemning the killing, calling the deliberate targeting of one of its correspondents a “heinous crime”. The network emphasized that the attack represents a blatant new violation of international humanitarian law and established global norms, adding that it aligns with what the outlet describes as a sustained, systematic Israeli policy of targeting working journalists to suppress reporting on the reality of the conflict in Gaza.
The Israel Defense Forces has publicly confirmed it carried out the strike that killed Wishah, but has offered no verifiable evidence to back its unsubstantiated claim that the journalist was affiliated with Hamas as a “terrorist”.
Wishah’s death adds to a steep rising toll of Palestinian lives lost on that single Saturday, bringing the total fatality count for the day to 10. Other casualties include four members of one family – two of them children – killed when their home in central Gaza City was hit by an Israeli strike. Additional deaths included a man killed in an attack north of Gaza City, and a woman shot dead by Israeli forces in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahia, according to on-the-ground Al Jazeera reporting.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a leading press freedom watchdog, released a statement saying it was deeply alarmed by Wishah’s killing. The organization noted the death underscores the ongoing devastating impact the Israel-Gaza war has had on media workers covering the conflict. “CPJ is investigating the circumstances of this incident and calls for a thorough and transparent inquiry by the Israeli authorities,” the group said.
Notably, Wishah’s death comes just two months after his brother, fellow Al Jazeer Mubasher journalist Mohammed Samir, was killed in an Israeli double-tap airstrike in April. Mohammed was targeted while driving to cover a developing story in the region. Colleagues of Ahmed Samir Wishah told reporters they had been concerned for his safety for months, after an Israeli incitement campaign targeted him specifically for his reporting on the conflict in Gaza over the past two years.
CPJ data confirms that at least 260 Palestinian journalists have been killed since the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza in October 2023. Wishah is the 12th journalist on Al Jazeera’s staff to lose his life in the Gaza Strip over the course of the campaign.