US secretary of state ‘deeply sorry’ over Israel’s killing of journalist Hamza Dahdouh

By Esra Tekin

ISTANBUL (AA) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday conveyed his condolences over the killing of Hamza Dahdouh, the son of Wael Dahdouh, Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief, expressing he was “deeply, deeply sorry.”

“I am deeply, deeply sorry for the almost unimaginable loss suffered by your colleague, Wael Dahdouh. I am a parent myself, I can’t begin to imagine the horror that he has experienced, not once, but now twice,” Blinken told a joint news conference with Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani in Doha.

Blinken is on a regional tour, his fourth since the latest conflict in Gaza on Oct. 7. “This is an unimaginable tragedy,” he added.

He, however, did not condemn the incident or Israel over killing of journalists and civilians in Gaza.

Hamza, 27, was also journalist working for Al Jazeera. He was killed by an Israeli missile strike in the western part of Khan Younis, Gaza on Sunday, according to the news network headquartered in Qatar.

Since the cross-border offensive by Hamas on Oct. 7, Israel has continued relentless attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing at least more than 22,700 people, including 109 journalists.

The onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicines.

Israeli authorities say the Hamas attacks killed around 1,200 Israelis.