Local health authorities in Gaza reported that four people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday, including Muhammad Washah, a journalist for Al Jazeera, the Qatari television network said. Health officials said the strike that killed Washah struck a vehicle he and another Palestinian were driving along the coastal road in Gaza City.
Al Jazeera reported on its Arabic-language channel that Washah died in a drone strike. The network had not immediately responded to a request for comment, and Israel's military did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the killing.
The military previously accused Washah in February 2024 of being a member of Hamas' military wing, releasing photographs it said showed him operating weapons systems. The military said those images were recovered from a computer seized by troops during a raid in Gaza. At that time, both Hamas and Al Jazeera denied any affiliation between Washah and the group.
The Hamas-run government media office in Gaza issued a condemnation of Washah's killing. Separately, medics reported that an Israeli airstrike in the central Gaza Strip killed two people, offering no further details about that incident. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military regarding the central Gaza strike.
These deaths come amid a fragile cessation of hostilities that both Israel and Hamas have accused the other of breaching. The two parties reached a U.S.-brokered deal last October intended to halt violence in the Palestinian territory, but hostilities have since resumed intermittently. Gaza health authorities reported that Israeli fire has killed at least 700 people since the deal was struck, while Israel has reported four soldiers killed by militants during the same period.
The killing of an Al Jazeera journalist is not without precedent. The article of record notes several previous fatalities among Al Jazeera staff in the context of Israeli military operations. In August 2025, Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al Sharif was killed along with four colleagues in an Israeli airstrike; the military later alleged, citing intelligence and undisclosed documents, that he led a Hamas militant cell, an allegation rejected by Al Jazeera.
In May 2022, Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, a U.S.-Palestinian citizen, was shot dead while covering a military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin. The military stated that its investigation concluded she was likely killed by unintentional fire from its forces.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has documented a total of 223 journalists and media workers killed across Gaza, Lebanon and Israel. The CPJ's counted fatalities include 210 Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza, 11 killed by Israel in Lebanon, and two Israelis killed in the Hamas-led attack of October 2023 that set off the wider Gaza war, according to the CPJ's tally. The count also notes that among those killed were journalists working for Reuters.
The CPJ has further stated that Israel has never held anyone accountable in the killings of journalists by its military. A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has maintained that the military targets combatants and military sites, strives to avoid civilians and journalists, and warns that remaining in active combat zones entails inherent risks despite efforts to reduce harm. The military has, at times, alleged without providing verifiable evidence that some journalists were killed because of links to Hamas, assertions their news organizations have denied.
This series of events underscores ongoing tensions between operational military objectives, claims of militant affiliation, and the documented toll on media personnel operating in conflict zones. Official responses were limited at the time of reporting, and available public statements reflect longstanding disputes over responsibility and accountability for civilian and journalist casualties in the region.