Israel murdered Palestinian journalist Wafa Aludaini and her entire family this morning
Aludaini, whose work we published at Jezebel, died in an Israeli airstrike on her house at dawn alongside her husband, their 5-year-old daughter, and their new 7-month old baby.
I’m heartbroken and enraged to have to write the words that Palestinian journalist Wafa Aludaini was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike on her home in Gaza this morning alongside her husband Munir, their 5-year-old daughter Balsam, and their 7-month old baby Tamim. Wafa was a prolific, courageous journalist who’d been covering Israel’s occupation of Gaza and conveying the plight of Palestinians to the Western world since long before Oct. 7. We published a piece of hers at Jezebel back in June of 2022 on the untold stories of Palestinian women being held as political prisoners in Israel, which you can and should read here. One of the women Wafa interviewed described her experience in Israeli detention as a “living hell.” An excerpt from that feature:
I was connected to Wafa through Rabbi Andrue Kahn and writer Ilana Cruger-Zaken, who often edited Wafa’s work for English speaking outlets. Cruger-Zaken had this to say about Wafa today:
I think what’s important about Wafa is that she believes in the power of bearing witness, but also in the power of building and teaching — her dedication is to teaching and uplifting young journalists, especially girls. The journalism she produces is people-centric and focuses on telling the stories of individuals surviving in Gaza, revealing parts of the place most of us in the outside never get to experience.
“Wafa was more than a journalist; she was a symbol of resilience,” the Palestinian Chronicle, where she was a star contributor, wrote in its tribute today. “As a woman, a mother, a journalist, and a voice for the Palestinian people, she embodied their struggle for justice and dignity.”
Israel has murdered at least 174 journalists and media workers in the past year in an apparent effort to obscure its ongoing genocide in Gaza, according to local health officials. The total death toll in Gaza is estimated to be over 41,000 at this point, including an estimated 16,700 children. And I will say, as I’ve been feeling for some time but especially today, that it’s becoming extremely difficult for me to cover this presidential election in a normal way while being asked to compartmentalize the unspeakable horror show we are funding in Palestine.
But today I specifically mourn Wafa Aludaini, her husband, and their beautiful babies, all of whom should still be alive to hold each other. She was an international hero, and we should continue to read and amplify her vital work.