Gaza City – June 7, 2025: Eid al-Adha in Gaza opened not with celebration, but with mourning, as residents carried the body of Palestinian photojournalist Ahmad Qalaja through the war-scarred streets of Gaza City. His funeral, held Friday on the first day of Eid al-Adha, became a solemn procession — a tribute to a journalist who died documenting a conflict that continues to claim both lives and truth.

Qalaja, a cameraman for Al Arabiya TV, was critically wounded in an Israeli airstrike on Thursday that targeted a group of journalists gathered in the courtyard of al-Ahli Arab (Baptist) Hospital. The attack killed four other journalists and left Qalaja in critical condition. He was rushed to the hospital’s intensive care unit, where he later succumbed to his injuries.

His death brings the number of journalists killed in Gaza since the beginning of Israel’s military offensive to 226, according to the Gaza Government Media Office.

While the government office did not initially specify the location of Qalaja’s death, Al Jazeera correspondents confirmed that medical sources at al-Ahli Hospital reported the fatal injuries followed the targeted strike on the medical facility.

In a statement, the Gaza Government Media Office condemned what it described as the “systematic targeting” of Palestinian journalists and called on international media organizations to denounce such actions.

“We also call on them to exert serious and effective pressure to stop the crime of genocide, protect journalists and media professionals in the Gaza Strip, and halt their killing,” the statement added.

The Palestinian Journalists’ Union also weighed in, welcoming a statement from UNRWA that criticized Israel’s ongoing ban on international journalists entering the Gaza Strip since the onset of hostilities. The union echoed the sentiment, calling the restriction a “ban on transmitting the truth,” and urged international organizations and Western governments to apply pressure on Israeli authorities to allow foreign press access to the besieged territory.

Friday’s funeral reflected the grim reality of life in Gaza, where press vests no longer guarantee safety and where journalists have become both chroniclers and casualties of war. Friends, colleagues, and citizens walked together under a sky heavy with drones, carrying not sweets or prayers, but the body of a man who had dedicated himself to bearing witness.