Bahaaddine Yassine, a 22-year-old volunteer Palestinian reporter for the privately owned local social media-based news outlets Watan Media Agency and Al-Quds News Network, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Al-Zeitoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, on May 10, 2024, while reporting on Israeli strikes on the area, according to SKeyes, his brother, and his employer.
Bahaaddine Yassine’s brother, Mohammed Yassine, told CPJ by phone that Bahaaddine had been filming an Israeli raid of the area around. 4.30 p.m. when he was hit by a missile from an Israeli plane. Mohammed Yassine said his brother had previously been injured by shrapnel from an Israeli tank on November 15, 2023.
Youssef al-Firani, general manager of the Watan Media Agency and the executive director of the Al-Quds News Network – both of which primarily use WhatsApp and Telegram to distribute news – told CPJ by phone that Yassine was killed while preparing videos and news materials.
Al-Firani said their last communication had been two days before his death, “when he was suggesting some on-the-ground stories, and he was supposed to deliver them on the day of his death.”
Al-Firani added: “Bahaa started working with us in August 2022. He was well-mannered and one of the kindest people we have known, and everyone who knew him loved him.”
CPJ emailed the Israel Defense Forces’ North America Media Desk in late September 2024, asking for comment on the killing of Yassine.
In an exchange that followed, the IDF asked CPJ for the journalists’ IDs and "relevant coordinates," which CPJ explained it could not provide due to research limitations. The IDF then said it could not fully address CPJ’s inquiry due to a lack of "sufficient details." The IDF said it takes "all operationally feasible measures" to prevent harm to journalists and other civilians, asserting that "many" on CPJ’s list were Hamas members and therefore lawful targets, but did not name the journalists or provide evidence they were Hamas fighters.