Israel has reportedly issued a ‘threat’ to the Gaza correspondent of premier media organisation Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera’s Gaza correspondent Youmna ElSayed said that she received “threats from Israeli forces” to vacate her home in Gaza City.
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“The phone call that we received was from a private number. The caller gave my husband his full name and told him that ‘this is the Israeli army, we are telling you to evacuate south because in the coming hours, it is going to be very dangerous in the area where you are at’,” Al Jazeera quoted her as saying.
“In the midst of all this bombardment, I don’t know how safe it would be to actually take our car and leave and drive under this heavy bombardment. It’s very risky, it doesn’t seem safe at all; in the past days, we’ve been seeing videos of cars that were directly targeted while they were on the street going to the south.
“So it’s really a very tense situation, I don’t think that if I risk my life and the life of my kids to take this journey that this could be a right decision. And at the same time, they called us directly and warned us telling us to leave now but the bombardment is relentless, how are people like me and others are going to be able to leave?” the journalist said.
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Al Jazeera statement on threat to its Gaza correspondent
“Al Jazeera condemns the Israeli threat towards Al Jazeera English journalist Youmna ElSayed and her family in the Gaza Strip.
Her family received a threat claiming to be from Israeli forces forcing them to leave their homes, as the area where the journalist resides is currently under heavy Israeli bombardment.
This vile threat comes only a few days after the indiscriminate killing of the family of Al Jazeera Arabic’s journalist, Wael al-Dahdouh, who were asked to move south before being bombed. Israel’s actions continue with impunity as they attempt to silence the messenger.
At least 29 journalists have been killed since the start of the war, including 24 Palestinians.
Al Jazeera strongly condemns these acts of violence and calls on international institutions to intervene and protect journalists and all innocent civilians.”
‘Extremely alarmed’ by threat to AJ reporter: Media watchdog
Sherif Mansour, of the Committee to Protect Journalists, says his organisation is “extremely alarmed” by the phone call received by ElSayed’s family in Gaza City.
“A lot of Palestinian journalists have been taking a lot of risks reporting from Gaza,” he told Al Jazeera.
“They have already paid a heavy toll. Many of them have lost colleagues, families and had to flee seeking safety when there is no safe haven or exit.”