Mohammed Qreiqeh was well-known for his eloquent way of speaking, a skill he displayed to the world in a live TV report just moments before Israel killed him.
The 33-year-old Al Jazeera correspondent was one of six Palestinian journalists killed in a direct and deliberate Israeli strike on their media tent beside Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital on Sunday.
His last moments on air were spent reporting on the dire humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, where months of Israeli siege have left two million Palestinians starving.
Born in 1992 in Gaza City’s Shujaiya, Qreiqeh was a graduate of the Islamic University of Gaza.
Qreiqeh contributed to several publications, including Middle East Eye, before he began working at Al Jazeera.
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MEE journalist Maha Hussaini recalled working alongside him for several months after Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023, and being impressed by his bravery and commitment.
“I was forcibly displaced in southern Gaza, while he remained in the north, refusing to evacuate or abandon his responsibilities there,” she explained.
“Mohammed would go into the field to gather testimonies and eyewitness accounts in places I couldn’t reach due to the Israeli separation of the north from the south, and he even felt responsible for informing me about crimes that the media had not yet learned about. He felt it was his duty to expose what was happening.”
Israel has killed 238 Palestinian journalists in Gaza since the beginning of the war, according to the Gaza government media office, and Qreiqeh knew many of his slain colleagues.
In one clip recently aired, Qreiqeh was seen making a tribute to Ismail al-Ghoul, a journalist killed a year earlier. Qreiqeh read a heartfelt poem, wearing his late friend’s press helmet.
Qreiqeh died near al-Shifa hospital – the same place his mother was killed a year ago.
He discovered his mother’s remains in early April last year, following Israel’s two-week assault on the hospital.
The Palestinian journalist Mohammed Qraqe’a whose mother was killed by the Israeli occupation forces whist attacking the Shefa hospital in Gaza. Mohammed found his mother following the withdrawal of occupation forces after two weeks of attacking the hospital. pic.twitter.com/V2WosPygZW
— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) April 3, 2024
In one clip, he revisits his mother’s resting place, where she was killed by Israeli forces, and speaks to eyewitnesses of the brutal invasion.
Four months later, Qreiqeh would lose his brother, who succumbed to wounds in an Israeli assault.
Much like other journalists working under the stress of Israeli attacks, Qreiqeh had been separated from his family for months, with one widely shared video showing him weeping as he listens to his daughter’s voice.
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Shortly before his killing, Qreiqeh spent some of his final moments inside a car answering questions about the Gaza war during a livestream.
Commenting on the recent Israeli announcement that it would totally take over Gaza, he expressed some rare hope: “God willing – and I am optimistic – that the coming days will bring news of at least ending this massacre and exhausting misery.”
“God willing, the coming days will be filled with peace, calm and happiness, and the war ends. We have all lost something… I’m not talking about the loss of our homes. The one who built a stone is able to rebuild it, there’s no problem. God will always give back,” he added.
“However, we have all suffered from losses in Gaza… Each of us has a story, and each story is more difficult than the other. In the end, it is God’s plan and we should surrender to God’s will.”
His final words to followers watching his livestream were words of appreciation and apologies for not responding to all of his comments.
