At least 225 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza since 2023. One was the son of Wael al-Dahdouh, who also lost his wife, two other children and a grandchild. Here, he talks about regaining his sense of purpose amid the desolation
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urpose was never something Wael al-Dahdouh struggled with. Even when struck by personal tragedies, the Palestinian journalist would take his place in front of Al Jazeera’s cameras to report the news from Gaza.
He returned to work almost immediately after his wife, two of his children and his toddler grandson were killed by an Israeli airstrike in October 2023. He showed the same determination seven weeks later when he was himself injured, and his friend and colleague Samer Abu Daqqa killed, as they reported on the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike on a school.
He again was back at work immediately after the funeral of his eldest son, Hamza, a cameraman killed in a targeted Israeli strike on a car carrying a group of reporters in January 2024.
