As Israel’s aggression expands in Deir el-Balah , civilian casualties are mounting amid the bombardment of residential homes.
At least 18 civilians were killed in an Israeli air strike that bombed a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp located in the central Gaza Strip on Friday evening. Journalist Mohammad Khalifa, 36, was among those who were killed, along with his wife and three children. Dozens of civilians were injured.
This incident took the death toll of journalists killed during the ongoing conflict in Gaza to 99, according to the Government Media Office. Israel’s war on Gaza has been the deadliest conflict on record for journalists, according to the New York-headquartered Committee to Protect Journalists. CPJ put the death toll of journalists killed in the current war at a minimum of 69 in Gaza, as of December 23.
Mohammad Khalifa’s 65-year-old father recounted Friday’s bombing to Al Jazeera. The family, he said, was inside their home, preparing to sleep when the attack occurred. “We were sitting quietly and preparing ourselves for sleep. The house and everyone in it were bombed,” he said. “My eldest son was killed while he was working as a journalist, along with his children, and all that survived was a child who was one and a half years old”.
The father said there were about 50 people in the house, including relatives and friends displaced from the north. “We are peaceful people, we have no political affiliation. There is no security or any safe place in the entire Gaza Strip.”