At least 11 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza on Wednesday, including three journalists who were documenting developments near the central Netzarim Corridor, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. The deaths, reported by multiple outlets, underline the growing risks to media crews operating in a war zone where strikes have repeatedly hit vehicles and bystanders.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health said six other people were injured in the attacks. The reporting described a range of incidents across the territory beginning at dawn. Among the dead were two children, and the ministry’s toll included the three journalists named as Mohammed Salah Qashta, Abdul Raouf Shaat and Anas Ghneim. Colleagues and medical officials described the journalists as on the ground when they were hit.
In central Gaza near the Netzarim Corridor—an area that has become a focal point of military activity—journalists Mohammad Qeshta, Abdul Ra’ouf Shaath and Anas Ghunaim were documenting developments when they were struck in an Israeli strike, according to accounts relayed by Al Jazeera and hospital and media sources. A fourth person was also killed in the same attack, further increasing the number of casualties connected to the strike involving a media vehicle.
Video footage circulating online showed a charred, bombed-out vehicle along a roadside, with smoke still rising from the wreckage. The imagery reinforced the accounts from colleagues and medical officials that the strike directly affected the journalists’ transport as they reported from the field, rather than placing them at a distance from the fighting.
One of the journalists killed, Abdul Raouf Shaat, was described in The Guardian’s reporting as a regular contributor to Agence France-Presse (AFP) as a photo and video journalist. AFP said he was not on assignment at the time of the strike, suggesting he was working independently or through another arrangement when he was killed.
Beyond the circumstances of the strike on the journalists, other deaths in the wider toll were attributed to shootings by Israeli forces. The Guardian reported that a 13-year-old boy, Moatsem al-Sharafy, was shot dead while collecting firewood in the eastern town of Bani Suheila, according to Nasser hospital. Footage shared online showed the boy’s father weeping over his body on a hospital bed, a scene that Al Jazeera also described as circulating after the incident.
Al Jazeera’s on-the-ground team reported that in southern Gaza, a 13-year-old was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers. Al Jazeera said the Associated Press reported, quoting hospital staff, that the child was shot while collecting firewood. In the aftermath, video circulated online showing the father’s grief at his son’s hospital bed, according to the accounts in the report.
The incidents point to the overlapping dangers faced by civilians and non-combatants attempting to carry out basic tasks in areas where hostilities persist. Collecting firewood, in particular, has repeatedly been described by aid groups and journalists in Gaza as increasingly perilous as access narrows and gunfire breaks out during daily movements.
Separately, local reporting cited in The Guardian indicated that the journalists’ work was sponsored by the Egyptian Relief Committee, which oversees Egypt’s relief operations in Gaza. Mohammed Mansour, a spokesperson for the committee, said the vehicle involved in the strike had been known to the Israeli military, a detail that he presented in response to questions about whether the vehicle was identifiable to forces in advance.
In the Guardian’s account, Mansour pointed to prior knowledge of the vehicle by the Israeli military as part of the background to the killings of the journalists. The report also included a photograph described as showing the twisted remains of an Egyptian Relief Committee vehicle hit in an Israeli strike, attributed to Abdel Kareem Hana/AP, linking the incident to a relief-related operation.
The death of journalists and the reporting of civilian shootings arrive amid a broader backdrop of violence and displacement across the enclave. Al Jazeera has previously reported on killings connected to Israel’s operations and on political efforts surrounding Gaza’s governance, illustrating how day-to-day fatalities continue even as diplomatic and administrative discussions evolve.
While the sources cited here do not provide details of the Israeli military’s justification for the strikes, the accounts emphasize that the three journalists were operating near a major corridor and that the vehicle shown in footage appeared destroyed. Colleagues and medical officials, as reflected in the reports, connected the journalists’ presence and their vehicle directly to the strike.
For families and for media organizations, the deaths represent more than a statistic: they mark the loss of professional observers in a conflict where access, safety, and communication are constantly disrupted. With the journalists named and their roles described—including Shaat’s work as an AFP contributor—claims about whether crews can be protected in marked vehicles and known relief operations have become part of the scrutiny surrounding each strike.
The latest reporting therefore adds to mounting concerns about the safety of those documenting events in Gaza. As investigations and statements continue to circulate, the killings—of three journalists and at least two children among a wider toll of 11 deaths—have revived questions about accountability, identification, and the limits of protection for civilians and media workers in the field.
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