Eslaih was recovering from injuries sustained while reporting when a drone strike hit his hospital room in southern Gaza, following repeated threats and incitement by Israeli forces and settlers.
This statement was originally published on madacenter.org on 13 May 2025.
The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) strongly condemns the assassination of journalist HASSAN ABDEL FATTAH ESLAIH, 43 years old, Director of Elm 24 News Agency, in a targeted bombing that struck Nasser Medical Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. He was receiving treatment in the hospital’s burns unit following an earlier injury sustained while covering the conflict, a result of direct targeting of journalists during fieldwork.
In the early hours of Tuesday, an explosive suicide drone detonated in the room where ESLAIH was staying, destroying parts of the building and instantly killing him. This attack followed repeated threats from Israeli occupation forces and incitement campaigns led by settlers and military spokespersons, which had targeted him through Israeli digital platforms and direct statements promising to kill him – threats made multiple times since the war began on 7 October 2023. His killing brings the number of journalists killed in 2025 to 27.
The targeting of journalist ESLAIH within a medical facility constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law, which affords special protection to both media workers and medical institutions during armed conflicts. It reflects the Israeli occupation’s ongoing policy of systematic killings of Palestinian journalists who fulfill their professional duty of conveying the truth and documenting war crimes and daily violations against civilians.
Journalist HASSAN ESLAIH was among Gaza’s most prominent field reporters. He covered the Israeli aggression with exceptional courage and dedication, despite the grave risks faced by journalists in recent months. Through his lens, he documented the suffering of civilians and the aftermath of relentless bombings and destruction – work that made him a repeated target of the occupation, which had previously injured him, threatened him with death, and incited against him before ultimately assassinating him today.
While expressing deep sorrow over the loss of colleague HASSAN ESLAIH and the other fallen journalists, MADA holds the Israeli occupation authorities fully responsible for this heinous crime. MADA renews its call to the international community and the United Nations – particularly the Special Rapporteurs on freedom of expression and the protection of journalists – to urgently launch an independent investigation into the deliberate targeting of journalists in Palestine, hold perpetrators accountable, and ensure international protection for Palestinian media professionals.
MADA also urges international human rights organizations to document this crime as part of the body of evidence on serious violations committed against journalists in the Gaza Strip and to include it in ongoing international investigations into war crimes.
Mercy to the martyr HASSAN ESLAIH, and to all the martyrs of truth. Freedom for the wounded and detained journalists.
May the voice of truth remain louder than the bullets of repression and murder.
