Opinion: Amid genocide in Gaza, why must Palestinian journalists uphold the illusion of neutrality?

On 20 June 2026, the Israeli army killed Al Jazeera Mubasher cameraman Ahmed Wishah in a drone strike, less than two and a half months after the killing of his brother, Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent Mohammed Wishah, who was targeted by the same army on 8 April. After Mohammed's death, Ahmed appeared on Al Jazeera pleading: "Let Mohammed be the last journalist Israel kills. We don't want any more journalists targeted. My message to the world is to stop the occupation from killing journalists." His global call went unanswered, and shortly afterwards, Ahmed was killed by the Israeli army. In a study published on 1 April 2025, Brown University's Costs of War Project concluded that the war on Gaza had killed more journalists since October 2023 than the US Civil War, the First and Second World Wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam War - including the conflicts in Cambodia and Laos - the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s and 2000s, and the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan combined. Read more: Amid genocide in Gaza, why must Palestinian journalists uphold the illusion of neutrality? Mourners gather around the body of Al Jazeera Mubasher cameraman Ahmed Wishah, his press vest laid on the shroud, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, on 21 June 2026 (Reuters/Mahmoud Issa)