By Seda Sevencan
ISTANBUL (AA) - Anadolu conveyed its condolences Wednesday over the killing of the family of Al Jazeera journalist Wael Al-Dahdouh in an Israeli air raid on Gaza.
“We received the tragic news about Al Jazeera correspondent Wael Al-Dahdouh's beloved wife and children, who perished earlier this evening in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. I extend my deepest condolences to Wael Al-Dahdouh, his loved ones, and the Al Jazeera family,” President and CEO Serdar Karagoz wrote on X.
The correspondent’s wife, son and daughter were killed in the strike, which targeted a house in the southern Gaza Strip, said the Qatar-based broadcaster.
The family had already been displaced from their home to the Nuseirat refugee camp in southern Gaza amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes in the Strip.
According to Al Jazeera, al-Dahdouh, a correspondent of the television’s Arabic service, was covering the Israeli airstrikes when he received the news of his family’s death.
It aired a video of him as he took a farewell look at his son lying on the floor of a hospital. Another clip showed him carrying the body of his daughter in his arms.
At least 6,546 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza, the local Health Ministry reported Wednesday.
The toll announced by the ministry has been consistently relied on by many media organizations as well as the UN and rights groups, in part because it has been accurate during past conflicts.
The conflict in Gaza began when the Palestinian group Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood -- a multi-pronged surprise attack on Oct. 7 that included a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by land, sea and air.
Hamas said the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque and growing violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.
The Israeli military then launched a relentless bombardment of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.
Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been running out of food, water, medicine and fuel, and aid convoys allowed into Gaza have carried only a fraction of what is needed.