Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief chosen for Kerala Media Academy’s Mediaperson of the Year award

New Delhi: In an ode to courageous journalists reporting from the Israel-Hamas conflict zone in Gaza, the Kerala Media Academy (KMA) has honoured Wael Al-Dahdouh, the Gaza bureau chief of Al Jazeera news channel, with the ‘Mediaperson of the Year’ award.

The award, includes Rs 1 lakh, a citation, and a sculpture, and will be presented by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, according to a statement from the KMA, reports The Hindu.

Al-Dahdouh has termed the award an invaluable honour, the release quoting KMA chairman R.S. Babu as saying.

The journalist was selected based on recommendations from an association of investigative journalists and a committee of editors of media magazines, said the release.

In October, Al-Dahdouh’s wife, his 15-year-old son, seven-year-old daughter, and a grandchild were killed in 'targeted' Israeli airstrike in Gaza. In January, his eldest son, a journalist in his 20s, was also killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Al-Dahdouh also lost his cameraman Samer Abudaqa in December in an Israeli missile attack. He sustained injuries in the attack and is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital in Qatar.

Over 27,000 Palestinians have been killed so far in the Israeli retaliatory attack on Gaza following Hamas militants’ unprecedented assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, with the majority of the victims being women and children.

Last week, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered its order after South Africa filed a genocide case against Israel. While the court found the allegations of genocide plausible and ordered provisional measures, it did not direct a halt to military operations.

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