Two journalists were killed in a tragic Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, as the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues to take a devastating toll. Mustafa Thuria, a video journalist for AFP, and Hamza Wael Dahdouh, a journalist for Al Jazeera, were killed while traveling in their car, according to the health ministry in Gaza. Hamza's father, Wael al-Dahdouh, who is the bureau chief for Al Jazeera in the Gaza Strip, was also recently wounded in a separate Israeli strike after his wife and two children were killed in the initial weeks of the war.

Thuria had been working with AFP since 2019, and the loss of these two journalists brings the total number of journalists and media workers killed since the start of the war to at least 77, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Of those killed, 70 were Palestinian, four were Israeli, and three were Lebanese. The Hamas government media office strongly condemned the airstrike and called it a "heinous crime" committed by the Israeli occupation army in an attempt to intimidate and prevent media coverage. Al Jazeera has vowed to take all legal measures to prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes as they accused Israel of deliberately targeting the reporters.

Al-Dahdouh has become a symbol for many of the dangers faced by Palestinian journalists as he continued to report on the fighting between Israel and Hamas, even after losing his wife, two children, and grandson in a previous Israeli airstrike. The conflict has taken an immense toll on the population, with over 22,800 Palestinians killed, mostly women and minors, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Despite the incredible risks and losses, Palestinian journalists have continued to play a crucial role in reporting on the conflict for local and international media outlets. The targeting of journalists has sparked outrage and calls for justice, as the devastating impact of the ongoing conflict reverberates throughout the region.