Ibrahim Dahman, CNN journalist in Gaza. Screenshot of a video broadcast by CNN.
Family members of Ibrahim Dahman, a CNN journalist from Gaza, were killed and his childhood home destroyed in two separate Israeli strikes, according to reports on the American channel's website.
For several weeks, the 36-year-old journalist reported from Gaza before leaving for Egypt with his wife and their two children. On Sunday, he learned that at least nine members of his family, trapped in the northern Gaza Strip, had been killed in an Israeli strike on his aunt's house.
The strike directly hit the building where his relatives lived in Beit Lahia, killing his uncle, his uncle's wife, their daughter and their two grandchildren, as well as his aunt, her aunt's husband and their two children. At least two other family members are in critical condition, and others are still buried under the rubble. "They were extremely peaceful and simple people, and their entire lives were devoted solely to working and raising their sons and daughters," said Dahman. "They were not affiliated with any organization or group ... Let us pray to God to have mercy on them all."
His childhood home in Gaza City was destroyed the same day by another strike on an adjacent building. "I will never forget every stone and corner of the house where I was born, grew up, and where my children were born," the journalist lamented.
After fleeing Gaza, Ibrahim Dahman said he understood that "peace remains far away," reports CNN. "I have covered many wars over the years. None compares to the current conflict. Entire neighborhoods in Gaza have been obliterated, with thousands of women, children, and elderly lost. What did the civilians do to deserve this? And I am haunted by our uncertain fate: Where do we go now? What is our future?"
For journalists in Gaza, it's not just their own lives being put in danger, but those of their families too. In October, al-Jazeera correspondent Wael el-Dahdouh lost his son, daughter, wife and grandson in an Israeli bombardment. In Lebanon, three journalists have already been killed by Israeli strikes while reporting on the conflict at the southern border with Israel. According to the latest report from the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 61 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza.
Israel went to war with Hamas after the Palestinian Islamist movement's unprecedented attack on Oct. 7, the deadliest against the Hebrew state in its almost 75-year history. Since this attack, the Israeli army carried out over 10,000 strikes on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, followed by a ground offensive in the north on Oct. 27.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled to the south, which is now being intensively shelled, and where the Israeli army has indicated that it intends to extend its ground operations to eliminate Hamas leaders and infrastructure.
