On Friday, December 15, Al Jazeera journalists Samer Abudaqa and Wael Dahdouh were reporting at the Farhana school in Khan Younis when Israel struck from the air.

Dahdouh took shrapnel to his upper arm but was able to apply pressure to the wound and escape to a nearby hospital for help.

But Abudaqa was unable to move. Rescue teams tried to reach him, but couldn’t due to Israeli bombardment. For more than five agonising hours, as he lay bleeding, campaigns were launched online and in traditional media to save his life.

“I made that call on air,” Jonathan Dagher, head of the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Middle East Desk, told Al Jazeera from the RSF offices in Paris. “On Al Jazeera, I said: ‘We call upon the Israeli authorities to allow first aid to reach Samer.’”

Despite the repeated calls, medical aid wasn’t able to reach Abudaqa, who died of his wounds that day.

‘A pattern’… of killing journalists

Abudaqa is one of at least 130 journalists and media workers, based on RSF’s count, killed by Israel in Gaza since October 7, 2023.

Other media rights groups have different numbers based on their own criteria, while the Government Media Office in Gaza counts the number of dead journalists and media workers at 173.

This has made working as a reporter one of the deadliest professions in an already treacherous situation.

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