News- Middle East: A Palestinian broadcast engineer with a production company working for the German public broadcaster ZDF and an eight-year-old child have been killed in an Israeli missile strike on the Gaza Strip.

The attack targeted the premises of the production company Palestine Media Production (PMP) in Deir el-Balah, southern Gaza, on Sunday afternoon. The company has been working for decades with the ZDF studio in Tel Aviv.

A 37-year-old engineer from the company and the son of another employee were killed in the missile strike.

Another unnamed PMP staff member, aged 31, was injured.

Images taken after the attack show that the SNG (satellite news gathering) transmission van, as well as team vehicles, were also destroyed.

The attack significantly impaired media operations in the southern Gaza region.

German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Kathrin Deschauer described the news as “deeply shocking” during a press briefing in Berlin on Monday.

She emphasized the necessity for a thorough investigation into the lethal Israeli attack.

Deschauer reiterated that humanitarian aid workers, journalists, rescue workers, and civilians must receive special protection under international humanitarian law during conflicts.

In reaction to the Israeli strike, ZDF Editor-in-Chief Bettina Schausten expressed condolences to the victims' families, stating that attacks on members of the press performing their duties are “unacceptable.”

“Our thoughts are with the victims and their families, to whom we express our deepest condolences. It is unacceptable that media professionals are attacked while carrying out their work,” she said.

As Israel continues to block foreign journalists from entering Gaza, Palestinian reporters remain the only direct sources of reporting from inside the conflict zone.

The Federation of News Agencies of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has also voiced its profound concern regarding the ongoing assassinations of Palestinian journalists by Israeli forces.

The federation underscored that the events occurring in Gaza represent a blatant infringement of international laws and standards, occurring alongside Israeli transgressions against press and media freedom, as well as its strategy of suppressing the truth, silencing dissent, obscuring its daily violations, and obstructing their dissemination to the global public.

The Israeli regime has killed at least 68,216 Palestinians, mainly women and children, in Gaza since October 7, 2023, according to the health ministry of Gaza.

Source : Press TV