- Walaa al-Jabari was killed along with her husband, four children and unborn child when her home in southwest Gaza City was bombed.
- According to local reports, which have not been independently verified, the blast was so powerful that the fetus was reportedly ejected from the womb.
LONDON: Palestinian journalist Walaa al-Jabari, who was reported to be pregnant, was killed along with her family in an Israeli airstrike on Wednesday.
Al-Jabari, an editor for several local media outlets, was killed in a bombing of her home in the Tal al-Hawa area of southwestern Gaza City. The bombing also killed her husband, Amjad al-Shaer, their four children and her unborn child.
According to local media, the blast was so powerful that the fetus was reportedly ejected from the womb. Arab News was unable to independently verify the claim or the authenticity of photographs circulating online that appear to show the fetus wrapped in a shroud.
Her death was the latest in what human rights and press freedom groups have described as a systematic crackdown on journalists in the Gaza Strip.
The International Federation of Journalists on Wednesday renewed calls on Israel to stop killing media workers and allow international reporters access to territory that has been under Israeli siege for 21 months.
More than 180 journalists, nearly all of them Palestinians, have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli offensive began, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Other groups put the death toll at 231.
Rights groups say there is evidence in at least a dozen cases that Israeli forces deliberately targeted journalists, which they say could constitute a war crime.
No independent journalists were allowed into Gaza throughout the war, except for a few strictly controlled, brief “inserted” visits by Israeli troops.
Israeli authorities have repeatedly refused to lift the ban, citing security concerns and the risks associated with allowing journalists to work freely in the conflict zone.
The blockade is putting enormous pressure on local reporters, who have to work under extreme conditions, including limited access to electricity, food and internet connections.
On Thursday, the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Reuters and the BBC issued a joint statement calling on Israel to grant journalists access to Gaza and allow humanitarian aid to enter.
“We are deeply concerned about our journalists in Gaza, who increasingly face difficulties in feeding themselves and their families,” the statement said. “For months, these independent journalists have been the eyes and ears of the world in Gaza. Now they find themselves in the same dire circumstances as those they report on.”