Bhubaneswar: Mohamed Abu Al-Qumsan, a broadcast engineer with Al Jazeera’s bureau in Gaza, has lost 19 family members, including his father and two sisters, in Israeli air raids on the Jabalia refugee camp.
In a statement on Tuesday, Al Jazeera denounced what it called a “massacre” and an “unforgivable act” by Israeli forces. “Al Jazeera vehemently condemns the heinous and indiscriminate Israeli bombing that has resulted in the killing of 19 family members of our dedicated SNG engineer, Mohamed Abu Al-Qumsan,” the statement read.
“This unforgivable act, during the Jabalia massacre, claimed the lives of Mohamed’s father, two sisters, eight nephews and nieces, his brother, his brother’s wife, and their four children, his sister-in-law, and one uncle.”
The Israeli attack on the Jabalia refugee camp, a tightly packed neighbourhood in northern Gaza, killed more than 50 people, according to Palestinian authorities. Footage showing the scene of the attack showed rescue workers and volunteers using their bare hands to dig through the rubble to try and reach those trapped beneath collapsed buildings, Al Jazeera reported.
The attack came days after Al Jazeera Arabic Gaza correspondent Wael Dahdouh’s wife, son, daughter and grandson were killed in an Israeli air raid. “What happened is clear. This is a series of targeted attacks on children, women and civilians,” Dahdouh was quoted as saying after seeing the bodies of his family members in a morgue.