'Ahmad burned in front of the whole world,' says wife of Gaza journalist killed after Israeli strike

< warm>WARNING: This story contains inside information of a adult male burning at the stake live.

Nidaa Mansour was on her phone when she read a news alert that an Israeli airstrike had hit a tent used by local media in southern Gaza, causing flames to erupt in the tent.

She frantically called her husband, Ahmad Mansour, a journalist and editor with news agency Palestine Today, who was working in the tent in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis at the time. She couldn't contact him but learned that he had been rushed to the hospital, though she was unaware of his condition. 

This week, footage of Mansour that appeared to show him being engulfed by flames as he remained seated — at one point raising his hands — was widely shared on social media.

"Ahmad burned in front of the whole world," Nidaa said at his funeral on Tuesday. "The whole world saw him as he was burning, and nobody was able to help him."

Video shared online showed a man running up to Mansour to try and pull his leg to get him out, while others attempted to use the little water they had to douse the blaze and toss blankets on top of him. People screamed in horror and disbelief as they witnessed his body become consumed by the blaze. 

"Dear God," one person yelled as he filmed.

Ahmad, 32, was rushed to hospital in critical condition due to the severe burns he suffered. He died in hospital a day later, on Tuesday.

Journalist Helmi al-Faqawi, along with another man, was killed in the Israeli airstrike on the media tent in the early hours of Monday, while nine others — including Mansour — were wounded. The media tent was inside a compound at Nasser Hospital.

Nidaa, 28, said she called her husband on Sunday evening, asking him to leave the area after hearing there were airstrikes. He told her that he would leave shortly, before the attack happened.

"He didn't return," she said. "I called him many times. But he did not pick up."

When Nidaa arrived at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where Mansour was taken for treatment, she could not see him.

"I [still] had some hope that he was still alive," Nidaa said. When she was allowed to visit her husband, she said his condition was very difficult to witness.

At his funeral on Tuesday, colleagues carried Mansour's body, wrapped in a white shroud, on a medical stretcher with his blue flak jacket placed on top. His wife knelt next to his body reciting the Qur'an, as dozens of others gathered around him, including his two sons, aged 1 and 6, and a five-year-old daughter.

Wife of Palestinian journalist killed after being engulfed in flames speaks at his funeral

In a joint statement on Monday, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) said they launched an attack in that area on Hassan Abdel Fattah Mohammed Aslih (Eslayeh), alleging that he was a member of Hamas's Khan Younis Brigade who was posing as a journalist. They did not provide proof. 

The statement alleges he documented and uploaded footage of looting, arson and murder during the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, to social media.

The attack on the media tent came a day after Islam Meqdad, another journalist, was killed along with her husband and child.

Mansour's death on Tuesday raised the number of journalists killed in Israel's Gaza campaign since October 2023 to 211, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate. 

In a statement on Monday, the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the attack.

"This is not the first time Israel has targeted a tent sheltering journalists in Gaza. The international community's failure to act has allowed these attacks on the press to continue with impunity, undermining efforts to hold perpetrators accountable," said CPJ Middle East and North Africa regional director Sara Qudah.

"CPJ calls on authorities to allow the injured, some of whom have sustained severe burns, to be evacuated immediately for treatment, and to stop attacking Gaza's already devastated press corps."

The IDF said it took "numerous steps" prior to the attack to mitigate harm to civilians, "including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence."

A ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza broke on March 18 after Israel resumed air and ground attacks on the war-torn territory, following a 42-day first phase of the agreement that largely halted fighting. 

More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, Palestinian officials say. Thousands more are believed to still be under the rubble, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence.

Israel began its assault after thousands of Hamas-led gunmen attacked communities in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Senior Writer

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