Abeer Salman

A Palestine TV correspondent and 11 members of his family were killed Thursday in southern Gaza, according to the Palestinian Authority-run television network, in what it described as an Israeli airstrike. Mohammad Abu Hattab had been reporting live on-air Thursday night outside of Nasser hospital in Gaza; thirty minutes later, when he had returned home, the correspondent was killed, his network reported. News agency WAFA also reported his death and that of his family. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they were not aware of their forces operating where Hattab and his family were killed. “Based on a review of operations in the area, the IDF is not aware of any military activity conducted by our forces in the vicinity of the location in question,” the IDF said in a statement to CNN Saturday. CNN could not independently confirm the source of the blast at the house. Palestine TV has not published evidence linking it directly to an Israeli strike. Hattab’s death sent shockwaves through his newsroom, with Palestine TV journalist Salman Al Bashir making an emotional on-air report that reduced a television anchor to tears. “We can’t bear this anymore. We are exhausted, we are here victims and martyrs awaiting our deaths, we are dying one after the other and no one cares about us or the large scale catastrophe and the crime in Gaza,” he said. “No protection, no international protection at all, no immunity to anything, this protection gear does not protect us and not those helmets,” Al Bashir continued, as he removed his own helmet and protective vest, which had “PRESS” inscribed in bright letters. CNN could not independently confirm the source of the blast at the house. Palestine TV has not published evidence linking it directly to an Israeli strike. Al Bashir also said Israel’s weeks-long bombardment of the enclave had become unbearable for Palestinians in Gaza.