Three journalists, including a CBS News contributor, were killed in an Israeli strike outside a camp for displaced people in Gaza on Wednesday.
Abdel Raouf Shaat – a contributor to CBS News and Agence France-Presse – was killed along with Mohamed Qishta and Anas Ghneim after their car was hit by an Israeli strike while leaving a camp for displaced people.
According to reports, the three journalists were recording footage of the camp while on assignment for the media arm of an Egyptian relief committee.
After leaving the camp, their car was struck by the Israeli military just a mile away.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces accused the journalists, without providing evidence, of operating “a drone affiliated with Hamas.”
“IDF troops identified several suspects who operated a drone affiliated with Hamas in central Gaza, in a manner that posed a threat to their safety,” the IDF claimed. “Following the identification and due to the threat that the drone posed to the troops, the IDF precisely struck the suspects who activated the drone.”
In its own statement, AFP mourned the loss of its contributor and demanded a full investigation into his killing.
“We are in mourning for the loss of our colleague Abdul Raouf Shaat who was a regular contributor to AFP’s production for nearly two years,” said AFP, adding that Shaat was “much loved” and remembered “as a kind-hearted colleague, with a gentle sense of humor and as a deeply committed journalist.”
The news organization continued, “AFP demands a full and transparent investigation into his death […] Far too many local journalists have been killed in Gaza over the past two years while foreign journalists remain unable to enter the territory freely.”
CBS News president Tom Cibrowski also informed staff of the news in a call on Wednesday morning, revealing that the journalist had just gotten married a few weeks prior.
While not on assignment for CBS News at the time of his death, the news organization stated that Shaat “filed regularly for CBS News from the city of Khan Yunis during the war in Gaza, even sending video from the back of an ambulance on one occasion when he was wounded.”
CBS News is owned by David Ellison – a close associate of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – and led by pro-Israel commentator Bari Weiss, who has visited Israel more than 15 times.
At least 258 journalists and media workers have been killed since the beginning of the war in Gaza in 2023, according to the International Federation of Journalists.
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