Tebboune mourns death of journalist’s son killed in Gaza
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune sent out a heartfelt condolence message to an Al Jazeera journalist whose eldest son was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Gaza, according to the Algerian Press Service (APS).
Hamza Wael Al-Dahdouh, 27, son of the Al Jazeera bureau chief in Gaza, Wael Al-Dahdouh, was killed on January 7 and becomes the fifth member of the Al-Dahdouh family to be murdered by Israel. His wife Amna, his grandchild Adam, his 15-year-old son Mahmoud and seven-year-old daughter Sham were killed by airstrikes in Nuseirat refugee camp (located in the middle of the Gaza Strip) in October.
Recently the Al Jazeera network journalist and cameraman as well as other reporters were shot at by Israeli forces whilst in a car on a road between Khan Younis and Rafah.
Al Jazeera reported that the journalists were on the way to the Moraj area northeast of Gaza which has been designated as a “humanitarian zone” by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) despite numerous recent bombings.
Turkish news outfit Anadolu Agency (AA) recently reported that 103 journalists have been killed in the besieged Palestinian enclave since October 7 and that the death toll more generally had exceeded 23,000.
READ: Algeria emphasises its strong support for Palestine
A day after, the Algerian head of state sent his thoughts and prayers to the journalist as well as strongly condemning Israel’s brutalities, writing, “I learned with immense sadness and deep sorrow of the cowardly murder of journalist Hamza Wael Al-Dahdouh, son of Al Jazeera journalist Wael Al-Dahdouh, by the Zionist occupiers, joining in martyrdom the majority of his family members who also fell as martyrs in the barbaric Zionist aggression, during which journalists carrying out their role are deliberately targeted in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and the right to protection it guarantees them.
“Their eternal memory will continue to haunt the Zionist occupation as a witness to the silencing of the voices of freedom and the concealment of the reality of Zionist crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories. To Allah we belong and to him we return.”
Tebboune is arguably the most pro-Palestinian leader in North Africa, a region increasingly voicing its opposition to Israel’s long and brutal oppression of Palestinians especially since the bloodshed in Gaza over the past few months.
The Algerian President’s speech at the UN General Assembly in September was strongly in support of the Palestinian cause, highlighting the importance of the state being granted full membership of the United Nations.
In 2012, the General Assembly upgraded Palestine’s status from an “observer entity” to a “non-member observer state”. The country had applied for full membership a year prior however did not gain enough support from the Security Council.
Wael Al-Dahdouh was back reporting live in Gaza just one day after burying his son following the tragic death.
AA/APS/Al Jazeera
