BERLIN: German state broadcaster ARD on Friday said Israel was blocking two of its long-term Palestinian workers from leaving Gaza, where they fear for their lives, citing security concerns the broadcaster said did not make sense.
The ARD said it had been pushing for two of its workers to be able to leave Gaza for more than two months, with support from the German government. Israel has so far refused, citing security concerns.
The Foreign Ministry and prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to request for comment.
“This does not make sense because they would not even be stepping onto Israeli soil,” said ARD senior editor Christian Nitsche.
“These colleagues are no security risk, and we call therefore on the Israeli authorities, on the government, to let our colleagues leave.”
FASTFACT
At least 83 journalists and media workers have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The German Foreign Ministry said in a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, that it shared the ARD’s concerns about their local staff and would continue to push for them to be able to leave.
One of the two ARD workers, Mohammed Abusaif, had already been evacuated eight times since the beginning of the Israeli offensive and was now living in a tent in the southern town of Rafah, the broadcaster said.
He was worried both about the Israeli strikes and about reprisals from Hamas.
“Ultimately he has been working for more than two years for the ARD, a German outlet — and Germany has positioned itself clearly on the side of Israel in this war,” the broadcaster wrote.
At least 83 journalists and media workers have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, in what it says has proven to be the deadliest conflict for reporters since the CPJ started gathering data in 1992.
Witnesses said three Palestinians were killed on Saturday in an airstrike that Israel’s military said was targeting a Hamas commander in southern Gaza.
The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, destroyed vast swaths of Gaza and displaced nearly 85 percent of the territory’s population of 2.3 million people.
At least 174 Palestinians were killed over the past day, the Health Ministry in Gaza said.
The Israeli military said it had conducted several “targeted raids on terror targets” in the southern city of Khan Younis and that the airstrike in the city of Rafah targeted a Hamas commander.
Bilal Al-Siksik said his wife, a son and a daughter were killed in the early morning strike, which came as they slept.
Rafah and the surrounding areas are crammed with more than 1 million people after Israel’s military ordered civilians to seek refuge there from the fighting.
Designated evacuation areas have repeatedly come under airstrikes, with Israel saying it would go after militants as needed.
