Rizq Abu Shakian, a Palestinian media worker and administrator for the pro-Hamas Palestine Now Agency, was killed alongside journalists Wafaa Abu Dabaan and Amjad Juhjouh in an Israeli airstrike on the morning of July 6, 2024, in his home in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to media reports and his wife and employer, who spoke to CPJ.
Mahmoud Nassar, editor-in-chief of the Palestine Now Agency, told CPJ that Shakian, 27, was a disciplined and kind person. "He was dedicated to his work, and loved order. He had a deep love for his family and a strong passion for life," Nassar said.
Hanan Juhjouh. Abu Shakian’s wife and Amjad Juhjouh’s sister, told CPJ that her husband “had been hopeful the war would end soon, but the Israeli occupation shattered that hope.”
CPJ emailed the Israel Defense Forces’ North America Media Desk in late September 2024, asking for comment on the killing of Abu Shakian. 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.