Al Jazeera engineer loses 19 family members in Israeli air raid

Al Jazeera condemns Israeli attack on Jabalia refugee camp that killed family members of broadcast engineer Mohamed Abu Al-Qumsan.

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 reads.

“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 tragedy has come amid relentless Israeli bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip, where more than 2.3 million Palestinians have few options for safe haven.

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.

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 said after seeing the bodies of his family members in a morgue.

Earlier this week, the family of Al Jazeera correspondent Youmna ElSayed received a phone call from a person who stated that they were with the Israeli military and warned them to leave their home and move south.

Palestinian authorities have said that at least 8,525 people, including more than 3,500 children, have been killed in Gaza since fighting began on October 7. The Committee to Protect Journalists has said that at least 31 reporters have been killed in that time, 26 of them Palestinian.

“We urge the international community to address this grave injustice with utmost urgency to justice served for the families of Mohamed Abu Al-Qumsan and countless other innocent Gazan civilians who lost their loved ones,” Al Jazeera’s statement reads.