A Palestinian poet, poet and journalist has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza in the Jabalia refugee camp, according to his family, taking all the journalists killed in the Israeli-Palestinian war since October 7, 2023 to 220.
Mohammad Hijazi was one of about 90 Palestinians killed in Israeli shelling in the past 24 hours, according to the Gaza Health Ministry on Sunday.
Hundreds of people have been killed in the Jabalia camp since Israel encircled northern Gaza on October 5 and increased its shelling, forcing thousands to flee. Israel has even banned aid groups from providing essential food to the area.
“I don't know if I will write to you again.” I save what I write and write. Maybe it will show up one day. I refuse a cheap death. I will curse the murderer,” Hijazi he wrote on Facebook in August last year.
“Let us on earth when we arrive at last, prepare ourselves with patience and prayer, and count the days that we have been winning history, while we wait for what is coming with a broken heart, a closed eye, a raised head; it is a spirit that fights to the end of the road.”
It is not known whether Hijazi was working for a news agency when he died.
Since the start of its war in Gaza on October 7, 2023, Israel has said killed at least 220 journalists and media workers, including Hijazi.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported on Sunday that at least 88 Palestinians have been killed and 208 injured in the past 24 hours.
The latest deaths bring the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli violence in Gaza to approximately 45,805 since October 2023, with approximately 109,064 injured.
Among those killed in the latest Israeli strikes on Gaza on Sunday were three Palestinians living in a tent in Deir el-Balah, according to Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud, from central Gaza.
A family of 15 was also buried under rubble in northwest Gaza City, following another attack, Mahmoud said.
“The Palestinian Civil Defense is trying to remove the bodies from under the rubble, but they have only removed four members of the family,” he said.
“It is said that there are at least 15 family members under the three-storey building that was crushed to the ground.
“These repeated attacks – deliberately against families – continue, causing more suffering among the Palestinian people.”
“I refuse to die cheaply…I curse the murderer.”
This morning, writer and journalist Mohamed Hijazi, the author of these words, was killed by Israeli forces in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza. #GazaGenocide pic.twitter.com/LWsCak8IPr
– Ramy Abdu| Rami Abdu (@RamAbdu) January 5, 2025
In the past three days, Israeli forces have killed more than 200 people in Gaza, Mahmoud said.
The few remaining hospitals in Gaza are now overwhelmed, he added.
At the emergency department of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, many people were left on the floor and others were waiting to be admitted to the operating room, Mahmoud said.
“By the time it's their turn, it's too late – they've bled to death.” “(Many) have severe burns, and there is no pain medication available at the hospital,” he said.
“There is a silent death going on. In the last weeks, due to the ongoing violence, people are dying silently due to lack of medical care. “
On Sunday, the Israeli army said it had defeated more than 100 “terrorists” in the Gaza Strip in the past two days. Many of the protests targeted sites where Palestinian forces have fired on Israel in recent days, the military said.
The latest violence in Gaza comes as direct talks about the liberation agreement it resumed in Qatar.
Mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been working for months to reach an agreement to end the conflict and secure the release of many of the captives still in Gaza.
Israel has detained more than 10,000 Palestinians since launching the devastating war, drawing international condemnation. Rights groups have labeled the Israeli military operation as genocide, while the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nations' highest court, said in March 2024 that the Israeli operation was “manifestly” genocide.
Separately, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant.