play videoplay video

Duration 03 minutes 35 seconds 03:35

Samer Abu Daqqa is a photographer and editing technician at Al-Jazeera in Gaza, born in 1978, who lived and grew up in Khan Yunis, and refused to leave it despite receiving job offers abroad, so he remained stationed in the field conveying the truth and news, and documenting the violations of the occupation for his people and his country, until he became one of the prices of the aggression of the "Iron Swords" and one of his martyrs, and he remained bleeding for 6 hours without ambulances being able to reach him, so he rose as a martyr on December 15, 2023.

He was known among his colleagues for his smile that did not leave his face, his constant optimism, his beloved personality among all, his playful nature, in addition to his creative and distinguished performance in the professional environment, and his press message that he stuck to until the last breath, and he was always the one who pushed colleagues towards completing the delivery of the message when they were tired of covering events.

Birth and upbringing

Samer Abu Daqqa, nicknamed "Abu Yazan", was born in the southern Gaza Strip in 1978 and lived in the large town of Abasan near Khan Yunis, where he was killed. He has three sons and a daughter who live in Belgium away from their father, who chose to stay in the field in Gaza.

Months before his death, Abu Daqqa visited his family in Belgium planning with them to reunite in Gaza and return home, and despite trying to convince him to leave it in the situation of the Israeli war on it, which began on October 7, 2023, he refused despite the foreign residence in his possession and said, "I will not leave," and preferred to continue covering this two days before his death.

Journalistic experience

He joined Al Jazeera in June 2004, worked as a photographer and editing technician, and is one of the first nucleus that contributed to the establishment of Al Jazeera's office in Palestine, and led the technical team in Al Jazeera's Gaza office, and his work at Al Jazeera exceeded 20 years.

Tamer Al-Mishal worked with him for 8 years in Gaza, accompanied him on journalistic missions and operations outside Palestine, and together covered events in Syria, Egypt and others. Al-Mishal says that he combined the skills of photography and montage, and was very distinguished in photography, and remained covering in the field throughout his journalistic experience with courage, so he is neither afraid nor afraid, bearing the responsibility of conveying the truth.

He was distinguished by his lens, which produced distinctive images, filmed humanitarian reports, films and other media productions for the various platforms of Al Jazeera, and he followed and supervised the artistic direction of Al Jazeera reports.

While covering the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, which began on October 7, 2023, Samer Abu Daqqa did not stop working, and was keen to cover events all the time, carrying his cameras in his hand and rushing to the scene of the event, documenting martyrs and violations from the midst of the targets.

Cite

Abu Daqqa was martyred on December 15, 2023, after he lay on the ground, bleeding and trapped in the vicinity of Farhana School for six hours, where the ambulance was unable to reach him after he was injured along with colleague Wael al-Dahdouh while covering an Israeli bombardment of the school.

On the morning of Saturday, December 16, 2023, he was laid to rest in Khan Yunis, and Abu Daqqa was laid to rest in the Gaza Strip.

Abu Daqqa was targeted with Wael Al-Dahdouh while they were escorting an ambulance that had coordination to evacuate a besieged family, and Samer and my colleague Samer were filming the great state of destruction left by the Israeli bombardment, and their lens was able to reach areas that no camera lens had reached before, and even emergency and ambulance did not reach.

After they finished filming, Abu Daqqa and his team returned on foot, to the ruggedness of the area that cars could not take, until a sudden rocket surprised them, and their equipment was scattered and they were injured by shrapnel.

Abu Daqqa was able to move to another place after his first injury, before an Israeli reconnaissance plane targeted him for the second time, killing him directly along with a number of civilians and 3 civil defense men.

The Government Information Office in Gaza said that "the occupation army deliberately targeted the crew of Al-Jazeera for the fourth time in a row in a full-fledged crime and in violation of international law," calling on press unions and media, human rights and legal bodies to condemn this crime.

The office added – in a statement – that the targeting of the Al Jazeera crew comes within the framework of "intimidation and intimidation of journalists," and considered it a failed attempt to obliterate the truth and prevent them from media coverage, stressing that the occupation army killed during the war on Gaza 89 journalists and arrested 8 others and injured many of them.

What they said about him

At Abu Daqqa's grave, reporter Wael al-Dahdouh gave a moving testimony about his career, saying he was one of the most loyal colleagues to his profession and to Al Jazeera "and we lost him in a barbaric act (although) we were on an approved official mission and directly coordinated."

Dahdouh said that the only consolation in the death of photographer Abu Daqqa is the presence of colleagues who carry his noble message and continue to perform duty professionally and transparently.

"Another journalist kills and another voice is silent," Qatar's Minister of State for International Cooperation at the Foreign Ministry, Lolwa al-Khater, wrote on her X account, adding that this is the largest number of journalists killed in any armed conflict in such a short time.

"When the attack on (French satirical magazine) Charlie Hebdo took place, world leaders rallied for freedom of expression," the Qatari official said, "but it is clear that journalists are not born equal. Dear Samer, we apologize because we could not protect you and left you alone facing their brutal military arsenal with your camera only. They deceived us and told us that words are more powerful than guns, and your life and the lives of dozens of journalists have been a price to realize that this is just a lie. May your soul rest in peace."

The Washington Post quoted a photographer working for it in Gaza as praising the martyr colleague, saying, "During the war, I approached Abu Daqqa, and we used to spend time together at Nasser Hospital, he is always smiling and everyone loves him."

Source : Al Jazeera