Agence France Presse (AFP) has called for a thorough and transparent investigation into the killing of its freelance photojournalist Abdel Raouf Shaath (34), who was killed in the Gaza Strip during an Israeli attack.
In a statement issued on Thursday, AFP said it was deeply saddened by the death of Shaath, who had worked regularly with the agency for nearly two years. AFP stressed that the circumstances surrounding his killing must be fully and independently investigated.
The agency noted that a large number of local journalists have been killed in Gaza over the past two years, while foreign journalists continue to be barred from entering the Strip, raising serious concerns about press freedom and the safety of media workers.
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Shaath was killed on Wednesday alongside journalists Mohamed Qashta and Anas Ghneim when an Israeli strike targeted a media vehicle in the Netzarim area of central Gaza. The vehicle belonged to the Egyptian Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice and was being used by a press crew documenting the committee’s camps for displaced Palestinians.
According to reports, Israeli warplanes struck a jeep clearly marked as a media vehicle while the journalists were carrying out their assignment.
Palestinian factions, journalists’ unions, and media organizations condemned the attack, describing the killing of the journalists as a war crime.
The Gaza Government Media Office said that the number of journalists killed by Israeli forces since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip has risen to 260.
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