The government media office in the Gaza Strip announced, on Monday, the death of two Palestinian journalists as a result of Israeli bombing on the city of Rafah and the town of Jabalia, south and north of the Strip, bringing the death toll of journalist martyrs to 126 since last October 7.

The office said in a statement: “The number of journalist killed has risen to 126 male and female journalists since the start of the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, after the death of two female journalist colleagues: Alaa Hassan Al-Hams, a journalist at Sanad News Agency and other media sites, and Angham Ahmed Adwan, a journalist at the Libyan February Channel.”

The statement confirmed that the two journalists, Al-Hams and Adwan, “were killed as a result of the continuous bombing and targeting by the Israeli army of citizens’ homes in the Rafah and Jabalia areas.”

Palestinian and international media have repeatedly warned that the Israeli army is targeting media crews, and called for protection for them, while Israel ignores these calls.

On Sunday evening and Monday morning, the Israeli army launched a series of violent raids on various areas in Rafah, which led to the death and injury of dozens of Palestinians, including children and women, in clear Israeli disregard for international warnings of the consequences of targeting the city, which is crowded with displaced people.

Rafah is the last refuge for the displaced in the stricken sector, and it includes more than 1,400,000 Palestinians, including 1,300,000 displaced people from other governorates.

Since the start of its ground operation in the Gaza Strip on October 27, the Israeli forces have been asking residents to go from the north and center of the Strip to the south, claiming that they are “safe areas,” but they were not spared from bombing homes, cars, and hospitals.

Following the ongoing military operation in the Gaza Strip since last October 7, which left tens of thousands of civilian casualties, Israel faces accusations of committing “genocide” before the International Court of Justice, for the first time in its history.