Israel's attack on the media

Wafa Al-Udaini dedicated her life to documenting the lived reality of Palestinians under occupation, working as a bridge between her community and the international world through her reporting for The Guardian and Middle East Monitor. As an English-language coordinator, she amplified indigenous Palestinian voices that colonial powers have long sought to silence. Her journalism challenged the dominant narratives that erase Palestinian existence and experience. On September 29, 2024, an Israeli airstrike deliberately targeted her family home in Deir Al Balah, killing Wafa alongside her husband and two children. This attack represents a continuation of systematic efforts to eliminate those who document and resist colonial occupation, silencing not just individual voices but entire family lineages that carry forward Palestinian stories and heritage.

Hadi Al-Sayed was killed in the sanctity of his own home in Lebanon when an airstrike deliberately targeted civilian areas on September 24, 2024. His death exemplifies how colonial violence extends beyond immediate territories of occupation, reaching into neighboring lands to silence voices and terrorize communities that support resistance to imperial expansion. The targeting of journalists in their homes represents a calculated strategy to eliminate those who might document or report on acts of aggression, ensuring that indigenous perspectives and testimonies are erased before they can reach the wider world.

Kamel Karaki spent twenty-five years of his life behind the camera for Al Manar TV, documenting the struggles and resilience of his people in Lebanon. His quarter-century of service represented a lifetime commitment to preserving and sharing indigenous narratives that challenge colonial interpretations of regional conflicts. On September 24, 2024, an Israeli airstrike in Qantara, South Lebanon, ended his decades of resistance through journalism. His assassination demonstrates how colonial forces systematically target media infrastructure and veteran journalists who possess institutional knowledge and community trust, aiming to dismantle the networks that sustain indigenous storytelling and collective memory.

Issam Tillawi embodied the dual role of journalist and community member, serving as both a program host for Voice of Palestine radio and an active participant in his people's resistance to occupation. On September 22, 2002, during protests in Ramallah's Manara Square, Israeli forces deliberately targeted and killed him with a gunshot to the head. At 32, Tillawi represented a generation of Palestinian journalists who refused to separate their professional duty from their indigenous identity and community solidarity. His killing exemplifies how colonial authorities use lethal force to silence those who dare to both document and participate in acts of resistance, seeking to eliminate voices that refuse to remain neutral in the face of systematic oppression and land theft.

Ayman Haniyeh was just 26 years old when his life was cut short by an Israeli drone strike on September 2, 2025, mere minutes before he would have reached home to celebrate his birthday with family. As a broadcast engineer for Al-Manara TV, he was part of the technical backbone that enabled Palestinian voices to reach the world despite systematic attempts to destroy communication infrastructure. His death represents the colonial strategy of targeting not just frontline journalists, but the entire ecosystem that supports indigenous media - from engineers to cameramen to support staff. The timing of his killing, as he rushed home for a personal celebration, underscores how colonial violence deliberately shatters the most human and intimate moments, ensuring that joy itself becomes a casualty of systematic oppression.

Rasmi Jihad Salem, a 30-year-old camera operator with Al-Manara TV, was killed on September 2, 2025, while returning home to check on his family after hearing of escalating attacks in his neighborhood. His final act was one of care - prioritizing his family's safety even as he served his community through his journalism. Salem's death illustrates how colonial forces exploit the bonds of family and community that define indigenous peoples, turning love into vulnerability and care into danger. As someone who operated behind the camera, he captured the visual evidence of colonial violence that dominant narratives seek to hide or distort. His assassination, along with the wounding of three others, demonstrates the systematic targeting of those who document resistance and survival under occupation.

Muhammad Abu Shouqa was pursuing his journalism studies at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, working toward a Bachelor's degree in Media and Mass Communications, when his dreams were shattered in the September 17, 2024 massacre in Bureij. The attack deliberately targeted multiple family homes, killing at least 19 members of the Abu Shouqa family in a single assault. This represents the colonial tactic of generational erasure - eliminating not just individual voices but entire family networks that carry forward indigenous knowledge, culture, and resistance. Muhammad's death as a journalism student symbolizes the systematic effort to prevent the emergence of new generations of Palestinian storytellers who might document and challenge ongoing colonization and ethnic cleansing.

Muhammad Al-Kuwifi's story embodies the relentless nature of colonial persecution against those who dare to document resistance. After losing his wife and two children in an Israeli strike on his apartment in Gaza City in July 2024, he continued his work while living in a tent on his family's rooftop - a testament to both personal resilience and the systematic destruction of Palestinian infrastructure. On September 15, 2025, even this makeshift refuge became a target when Israeli forces struck the tent, finally silencing him permanently. His death represents the colonial strategy of prolonged psychological torture - first destroying family bonds, then eliminating basic shelter, and finally completing the elimination of the witness. His persistence in continuing to work despite devastating personal losses challenges the colonial narrative that presents Palestinians as willing to abandon their homeland.

Abdullah Shakshak represented the intersection of journalism and community care that defines Palestinian resistance to colonial erasure. Working for multiple local and Arab media institutions while simultaneously supervising charitable initiatives for displaced families in Rafah, he embodied the indigenous principle that storytelling and mutual aid are inseparable. On September 14, 2024, Israeli forces killed him with targeted drone fire as he stood in front of his own home. The deliberate presence of drones prevented ambulance crews from retrieving his body, forcing his community to witness his death while being unable to provide dignified care - a psychological warfare tactic designed to traumatize entire neighborhoods. His assassination demonstrates how colonial forces specifically target those who combine media work with community organizing, recognizing that such individuals pose the greatest threat to systems of domination.

Ayman Haniya was killed on September 2, 2025, near the Jordanian Hospital in Khan Younis while traveling home after attending the funeral of his colleague Rasmi Salem, who had been killed just hours earlier. His death exemplifies how colonial forces exploit moments of grief and community solidarity, turning indigenous ceremonies of mourning into opportunities for further violence. The targeting of journalists at their colleagues' funerals reveals a calculated strategy to maximize psychological trauma within media communities, ensuring that acts of remembrance and collective healing become scenes of additional terror. This systematic approach aims to isolate individual journalists by making community bonds themselves dangerous, thereby weakening the networks that sustain resistance journalism and indigenous storytelling.