Suleiman Hajjaj, a 32-year-old journalist and for the Islamic Jihad-affiliated Palestine Today satellite channel, was killed on Thursday morning, June 5, 2025, by an Israeli drone strike while he was in the courtyard of the Al-Ahli-Baptist Hospital, along with his colleague, Ismail Baddah, a camera operator for the channel, and Ahmed Qalaja, a camera operator working for the Qatari-funded Al-Araby TV.
The strike killed Hajjaj and Baddah and gravely wounded Qalaja, who died from his injuries one day later on June 6. Palestine Today TV correspondent Emad Daloul was also injured, as well as two other journalists with Al-Araby TV: reporter Islam Badr and camera operator Imam Badr.
“The strike happened at around 10:20 a.m. with a single missile fired by an Israeli drone directly at a group of journalists who were sitting in the courtyard, working on their laptops,” Islam Badr, who started filming minutes after his right leg was hit, told CPJ.
His sister, Esraa Hajjaj, told CPJ: "My brother Suleiman was in the courtyard of the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital on Thursday morning, sitting with a number of his colleagues covering events in Gaza City, when they were targeted by a single missile from an Israeli drone."
The Israel Defense Forces said on Telegram that they had “precisely struck an Islamic Jihad terrorist who was operating in a command and control center in the yard of the Al-Ahli Hospital.”
Avichay Adraee, IDF spokesperson for Arabic Media, later published a statement on his Facebook page acknowledging the targeting of Hajjaj and Samir Al-Rifai, a former office worker at the local, privately owned Shams News Agency who was also killed, claiming they were members of the Islamic Jihad movement who were acting “as if they were journalists.”
He said they “were masquerading as journalists and operating from inside the Baptist Hospital to facilitate terrorist activity.” Adraee provided no evidence for his claims.
Palestine Today TV described the killings as a “double war crime” for “direct targeting” its journalists and a hospital, both protected under international law.
Responding to IDF’s posts, Esraa Hajjaj completely denied the accusations, adding to CPJ “they were lies.”
Hajjaj was a father of two children.
CPJ’s email seeking comment from the Israel Defense Forces’ North America Media Desk about the targeting of journalists did not receive a response.