Faisal Abu Al Qumsan, a Palestinian journalist and a correspondent for Al-Quds Al-Youm TV, a channel affiliated with the Islamic Jihad militant group, was one of five journalists and media workers killed in a December 26, 2024 strike on their vehicle outside Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp. The Associated Press reported that footage showed the van had visible press markings.
The other journalists were camera operator Ayman Al Gedi, photographer and editor Fadi Hassouna, editor Mohammed Al-Ladaa, and fixer Ibrahim Sheikh Ali.
An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) statement said that intelligence from multiple sources – including a list found during an operation in Gaza – had confirmed that those killed were Islamic Jihad operatives posing as journalists and that the Israeli military had taken “many steps” before the raid “to reduce the possibility of civilian casualties, including the use of precision munitions, aerial reconnaissance and other intelligence information.”
Al-Quds Al-Youm said in a December 26 statement that the five were killed as they carried out their “media and humanitarian duty.”
Talal Al Arrouqi, a correspondent for privately owned Qatari-based broadcaster Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent, told CPJ that he was sleeping in the hospital corridors when they heard an explosion around 1:30 a.m. “When we went out, we found a huge fire in the Al-Quds Al-Youm satellite channel’s broadcast vehicle. There was only a wall separating us. We tried to put out the fire, but we failed.”
Al Arrouqi said that it was common for their Al-Quds Al-Youm colleagues to sleep in their vehicle. “We found their bodies charred, and some of their limbs had been severed.” He said the air strike had caused a fire and “great destruction,” leaving him and Al Jazeera Mubasher camera operator Moamen Al-Qarnawi with significant bruising and damage to their vehicle and film equipment.
CPJ did not receive a response to its December 26 email to the IDF’s North America Media desk asking whether the journalists were targeted for their work or whether there was any evidence that they were militants.