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Today (Monday August 25, 2025) is another bloody day in Gaza. The Israeli Death Forces (IDF) have murdered 87 across Gaza, mostly patients, medical personals, and journalists, 21 of them occurred at the Nasser Medical Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. The other 66 were either bombed to death elsewhere in Gaza Strip or died as a result of starvation according to the office of Gaza Health Ministery.
Let me tell you, the pilots who carried out these strikes on hospitals targeting journalists, doctors, nurses, first responders, and patients are not only war criminals but cowards. May the dead haunt their every waking moment. I should add, only heartless people or those who are already indoctrinated or can be bought or blackmailed, will defend the Israeli atrocities and war crimes for the last 22 months.
More Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza than all previous wars combined
As of today, according to the UN, the number of Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza during the genocide is 244 people. That is more Palestinian journalist killed in Gaza than all previous war combined. That is including today's five journalists who were murdered at Nasser Hospital on live TV for the whole world to see.
Among the five was one female journalist, Mariam Daqqa, 33, who had been working as a freelance journalist for The Associated Press since the conflict began in October 2023. The other journalists among the victims were: Hossam Al-Masri (Reuters), Mohammad Salami (Al Jazeera), Ahmad Abu Aziz, and Moatz Abu Taha (NBC). The AP said it was "shocked and saddened” by the deaths but it expressed no outrage or condemnation!
Rescuers found her cell phone. Her last message she wrote, was addressed to her 11-year- old son Ghaith. It was a heart wrenching message that went viral upon publication.
A Dutch politician said recently, "Israel now is the most hated country in the world and growing worldwide anger against the Netanyahu-led Zionist regime due to the brutal military offensive and blockade in Gaza and Israel's refusal to accept a hostage deal."
The majority of people across the world have now a negative view of Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a Pew poll released last June as reported by MEE. The Pew poll showed widespread negative attitudes across Europe and East Asia. It also showed that positive views of Israel are decreasing in Western Europe and among young people.
In Italy, 66% of people had a negative view of Israel, measured by “somewhat or very unfavorable” opinions. In Greece, Sweden, and Spain, the negative sentiment towards Israel was all above 70%. In the Netherlands, the number reached 78% percent.
Even in Poland, whose government is traditionally supportive of Israel, public sentiment was 62% negative. Likewise, in Hungary, 53% of respondents had a negative opinion of Israel, according to MEE.
Israel reaction to today's massacres
Crime Minister Netanyahu's office has the nerves to say that "Israel deeply regrets the tragic mishap," and military authorities are conducting a "thorough investigation." That is because three of the journalists worked for Reuters, NBC, and the AP. Otherwise, why did he not express similar regrets two weeks ago when his army murdered Anas Sharif and four of his crew in Gaza. Reason? They did not work for a US or British news organization, but they worked for Al Jazeera.
Secondly, the Israeli Crime Minister said that the Israeli military does not target journalists and that the IDF "acts to mitigate harm to uninvolved individuals, adding that Israel valued the world of journalists and medical staff." The evidence of reality clearly shows otherwise. A fish swims, a bird flies, and Bibi lies!
Israeli Channels 12 stated at least 8 of the victims were member of Hamas and may be more without producing any evidence.
Channel 24 commentators said the journalists are part of Hamas and they expose Israel in the world of public opinion, which translates into victory of Hamas. He added the IDF should have killed all Palestinian journalists from the beginning of the war. That explains why Israel banned Western journalists from covering the war in Gaza.
Mohamed Elmay posted the message on his FB page following the murder of Abu Daqqa, "The will of the martyr, God willing, Maryam Abu Daqqa, to her son was the most impactful thing I have read since the beginning of this war—despite its horrors and the depth of its sorrows." Elmay added, "A young woman, deeply faithful, writing her will to her son Ghaith, 11, just hours before her martyrdom—asking her colleagues at work where to send her savings in case something happened to her—as if she somehow knew the exact moment of her ascension."
Maryam Abu Daqqa's will to her son, Ghaith goes viral
“Ghaith, you are your mother’s heart and soul.
I want you to pray for me, not cry over me, so I can stay happy.
I want you to raise my head high, excel, succeed, and prove yourself.
Become a strong businessman, my love.
Please don’t forget me, my dear. I did everything to make you happy and keep you comfortable.
And when you grow up, get married, and have a daughter, name her Maryam after me.
You are my love, my heart, my support, my soul—my son who makes me proud with his reputation.
Ghaith, my dearest, your prayer, then your prayer, then your prayer—never forget.”
Your mother, Maryam.
To Palestinians, Maryam Abu Daqqqa will always be remembered as the woman who donated her kidney to her father, and her life to her people.
Watch the last video filmed by Independent Arabia journalist Maryam Abu Daqqa before she was killed in the Gaza strike.
Mahmoud El-Youseph is a Palestinian freelance writer and retired U.S. Air Force veteran. He writes on U.S. foreign policy, Middle East affairs, and justice. Email: elyousseph6@yahoo.com
EPA/Shutterstock/Reuters/AP - PHOTO: Palestinian journalists, top L-R, Mohammad Salama, Moaz Abu Taha and Mariam Dagga and bottom
L-R, Hussam Al-Masri and Ahmed Abu Aziz who were killed in Gaza, Aug. 25, 2025.