Mohammed Issa Abu Saada, a 31-year-old Palestinian freelance photographer and videographer who worked with several outlets including the local online outlet Sahat and Al Sharqiya Pulse, was killed with at least two family members in an Israeli strike on his uncle’s home in the Al-Zana neighborhood of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes, Sahat, and Arabi21 news site.
Mohammed Jaber, a relative who witnessed the bombing, told CPJ that the journalist came to his uncle’s house at about 5 p.m. to use his internet connection to upload some of his video footage. His uncle and aunt were living in a tent next to the ruins of their house, which was destroyed in the war.
“I met him at the door of the house, and we talked a little bit. Then I sat outside. After that, his cousin gave him the internet password. After about three minutes, I heard a huge explosion,” Jaber said.
“The explosion occurred as a result of a single missile fired by an Israeli Apache helicopter (that hit) his uncle’s tent, which completely tore his body apart, Jabar said. “Only his head and part of his chest remained,” he said, adding that several other family members were killed and injured in the strike.
Abu Saada’s friend and fellow journalist Mazen Al Breim told CPJ that the timing of the incident suggested to him that Abu Saada was deliberately targeted.
“Mohammed was a specialist in drone photography,” Al Breim told CPJ. “But after several operations in which the Israeli army bombed journalists specializing in this field, including the bombing and killing of colleague Mustafa Abu Thuraya on January 7 of this year, Mohammed decided not to use them (drones) too much because he began to notice that they (journalists using drones) were being deliberately targeted. He relied on a regular camera for photography only.”
Abu Saada’s brother, Wadih, told CPJ, “He (Abu Saada) told my mother that they were deliberately killing anyone who owned a drone and used it for filming, so he had greatly reduced the use of it.”
Abu Saada’s final Facebook post was a reel on April 21 of himself using a drone to film the ruins of Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Yunis. “We are afflicted with the love of this country. We love it even if it is in ruins. This country belongs to us with its wars and its broken silence,” he wrote.
Abu Saada was buried on August 9, 2024, according to a video posted by Sahat.
Responding to CPJ’s request for comment on Abu Saada’s killing, the Israeli military said it could not examine the incident in depth without specific information. "If such details shall be provided the incident will be examined and investigated," the IDF said in an August 28 letter. It did not indicate what specific information it required.