Gaza, August 25 (QNA) - The number of Palestinian journalists who have been murdered since the start of the war of annihilation Israel is waging on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, has climbed to 244, following today's announcement of four murdered journalists in the Israeli shelling of the Nasser Medical Complex in the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

The four martyred journalists are namely Hossam Al Masri, a photographer working for Reuters news agency, Mohammed Salama, a photographer working for Al Jazeera channel, Mariam Abu Daqa, a journalist working for the Associated Press and Independent Arabia, and Moaz Abu Taha, a journalist working for NBC News, the Government Media Office in Gaza has announced.

The office further indicated that the four were killed after the Israeli occupation forces committed a horrendous crime by targeting a contingent of journalists who were on a press mission at this medical facility, which resulted in numerous martyrs.

The office condemned, in the strongest terms, this grotesque and savage crime and called upon the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the Federation of Arab Journalists (FAJ), and all press blocs in all nations worldwide to condemn these systematic crimes against Palestinian journalists and media professionals in the Gaza Strip.

Targeting journalists and media institutions by Israeli combat aircraft is an unequivocal war crime that primarily intends to muzzle the voice of truth and obscure the signs of the crime of genocide, in a prelude to the Israeli criminal plan to cover up the past and upcoming savage massacres which Israel has committed and intends to commit in the Gaza Strip, the office stressed.

Throughout their aggression against Gaza, the Israeli occupation forces deliberately target journalists and media institutions, where over 400 journalists have been wounded and 40 others have been arrested.

They also decimated the vast majority of local and international institutions operating in the enclave, forcing all local radio stations to close due to displacement amid the absence of essential conditions for journalistic work, especially electricity and internet. (QNA)