On December 2, 2025, freelance photojournalist and drone operator Mahmoud Wadi, 34, was killed when an Israeli drone fired a missile at him in central Khan Younis as he prepared to launch a drone to film destruction in the city. Wadi, a father of one, worked independently with several media outlets, including the Qatari-funded broadcaster Al Jazeera and Al Jazeera Mubasher, Al Araby TV, and privately owned Al-Ghad TV.
According to his brother, Mohammed Wadi, who spoke to CPJ, Mahmoud had visited their sister’s home in central Khan Younis on Tuesday morning before stepping outside—about 200 meters away—to document the destruction with a drone. At approximately 10:48 a.m., an Israeli drone struck Mahmoud directly as he and fellow freelancer Mohammed Islayeh, 40, were preparing the device for launch. The strike killed Mahmoud and injured Islayeh.
Mohammed Wadi said the missile was fired intentionally at Mahmoud, noting that the location was in the middle of Khan Younis and roughly three kilometers from the “yellow line” Israel designated as a no-cross zone. “He was not near Israeli forces nor posing any threat,” he said. “The targeting was deliberate.”
Journalist Mohammed Abo Obaid, Mahmoud’s colleague and friend, told CPJ that Mahmoud was well-known for operating one of Khan Younis’s most popular photography studios for weddings and events. During the war, he shifted to humanitarian documentation for aid groups working with displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza, and later increasingly focused on aerial news footage using drones.
CPJ emailed the IDF’s North America Media Desk seeking comment on Wadi’s killing and was asked to provide “relevant coordinates, the specific time and relevant information on the matter”, information not collected.