GAZA, Palestine

Sami Shehadeh, a Palestinian photojournalist who had his foot amputated after being injured in an Israeli army attack last Friday, said he will return to work to expose Israel's crimes in the Gaza Strip.

Sharing the moments when the Israeli army targeted members of the press, Shehadeh told Anadolu he was attacked while covering the situation at the Nuseirat refugee camp for the TRT Arabi, the Arabic-language channel of the Turkish national broadcaster.

"Two minutes after we arrived at the camp, we were directly targeted by the Israeli army," he said.

Shehadeh was wounded in the attack and hospitalized, but his foot could not be saved despite multiple surgeries performed at the hospital.

'We will return stronger'

Shehadeh said he remains resolute in his commitment to covering Gaza's events.

"We will complete our treatment in Türkiye, and we will return stronger than before to complete our mission," he added.

He criticized the silence of the international community over attacks on journalists in Gaza and called for the safety of media personnel.

"There is a weakness of them towards the protection of journalists and their rights guaranteed to them by law and the Geneva Convention in particular," Shehadeh said.

He accused Israel of deliberately targeting journalists to suppress media coverage of Gaza, stressing the urgency of ending violence against journalists in the region.


Israel targets journalists in Gaza

On April 12, Shehadeh and other journalists, who were wearing protective gear, were directly targeted by Israeli forces.

The attack, which left Shehadeh, Mohammad Al-Sawalhi from CNN, and a freelance journalist injured, underscores the risks faced by journalists in Gaza.

Since October 7, 2023, more than 140 journalists have lost their lives in Israeli army attacks in Gaza, highlighting the perilous environment for media professionals in the region.

More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since last October, the Health Ministry in the besieged enclave said on Friday. The ongoing onslaughts have also injured 76,833 Palestinians, it added.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

*Writing by Muhammed Yasin Gungor