OMM Redaksiyası
A Palestinian imam and religious radio presenter was killed on Wednesday in an Israeli drone strike while preparing a media report on Quran memorization in the southern Gaza Strip, according to Anadolu Agency.
Mohammed Abdul Aziz al-Najjar, 38, served as an imam and worked as a producer and presenter of religious programmes for Quran Radio, which is affiliated with Gaza’s Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs.
Ikrami al-Mudallal, the ministry’s media director, said al-Najjar was targeted while producing material about Quran memorization.
A medical source at Nasser Hospital said al-Najjar’s body and another person, who sustained moderate injuries, were taken to the facility after the strike in the Al-Mawasi area of Al-Qarara, in northwestern Khan Younis.
The Ministry of Endowments mourned al-Najjar, saying he had performed his media and religious duties “with sincerity and dedication”.
Seven Palestinians killed in Gaza on Wednesday
Al-Najjar also served as imam of the Ibad al-Rahman Mosque in Khuza’a, eastern Khan Younis, an area currently under Israeli military control, al-Mudallal said.
His death brought the number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza on Wednesday to seven.
Earlier, five Palestinians were killed when an Israeli strike hit a vehicle towing a passenger cart in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood of southern Gaza City.
In a separate attack early on Wednesday, a Palestinian woman, Iman Abdul Aal, was killed and her husband critically injured in an Israeli airstrike on a home on Al-Wahda Street in Gaza City.
Ceasefire violations
According to figures released by Gaza’s Health Ministry on Wednesday, Israeli violations of a ceasefire agreement have killed 1,431 Palestinians and injured 5,026.
Since October 8, 2023, more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 175,000 injured in Gaza, according to Palestinian figures. About 90% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been destroyed.
