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18:10 GMT
TUNIS, Jan 8 (KUNA) -- The Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) strongly denounced the continued attacks of the Israeli occupation forces on media people in Gaza Strip, citing the recent killing of two journalists to the south of the Strip.
Hamza Al-Dahdouh - a journalist of Al-Jazeera network, and Mustafa Thuraya - a freelance journalist, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their car between Khan Younis and Rafah yesterday.
A third journalist - Hazem Rajab, was seriously injured in the attack.
"This horrific crime is a new ring in the chain of systematic targeting of journalists and camera people by the Zionist enemy in Gaza," ASBU said in a press release on Monday.
Noting that the two fatalities took to 109 the number of journalist martyrs in less than 100 days since the start of the war on Gaza, the statement said, "This death tool of journalists is unprecedented in the history of wars and conflicts."
Another gloomy aspect of this crimes is the fact that Hamza Al-Dahdouh is the son of Al-Jazeera bureau chief in Gaza Wael Al-Dahdouh who has lost four members of his family in the ongoing conflict, the statement pointed out.
Wael's wife Amna, his grandchild Adam, his 15-year-old son Mahmoud and seven-year-old daughter Sham were martyred in a similar Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat refugee camp in October.
The persistence of the Israel occupation forces in denying media people access to the besieged Gaza Strip aims to cover up for the atrocities they commit there, the statement noted.
ASBU called on the international media and legal bodies to speak up against the recurrent atrocities in Gaza, pledging to continue providing audience around the globe with "unprecedented coverage of the incidents in Gaza in collaboration with Palestine Radio and TV, and local freelancers. (end)
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