Gaza City – April 7, 2025 — A female Palestinian journalist, Islam Meqadad, was killed in an Israeli airstrike that struck her home in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, on Sunday night, according to local health officials.

Meqadad, who had been reporting from Gaza throughout the conflict, died along with members of her family when the residential building was hit. The strike, which targeted a tent and a house in the area, killed at least 15 people in total — including five women and five children — according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies.

“My daughter is innocent. She had no involvement. She loved journalism and adored it,” said her mother, Amal Kaskeen, speaking in the aftermath of the bombing.

Meqadad is one of dozens of journalists who have been killed since the Israel-Hamas war escalated last October. Her death underscores the peril media professionals face while covering the conflict from within the besieged and heavily bombarded Gaza Strip.

The Gaza Health Ministry reports that more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed since the outbreak of the war, over half of them women and children. Israel claims that roughly 20,000 militants are among the dead, though it has not provided independent evidence.

Journalist protection groups, including the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders, have raised alarm over the growing number of media workers killed or injured during the conflict. Many of those killed were reporting from their own neighborhoods and homes.

Meqadad’s death adds to the mounting toll on press freedom and highlights the increasing risks faced by Palestinian journalists trying to document the war from within Gaza.