Activists Demand End to Gaza War, Condemn Journalist Killings, Declaring "Journalism Is Not a Crime

Journalism is not a crime.

A crowd, adorned with blue-and-white "Press" stickers, gathered in the Israeli town on a Friday. They were calling for an end to the war in Gaza, which had already claimed the lives of nearly 200 journalists, among tens of thousands of others. Some protesters held up photographs of Palestinian journalists who had been killed.

A banner held by the protesters read, "Don't assassinate the truth." Others banged on empty pots to symbolize the hunger in the Gaza Strip and to protest the killing of journalists.

Mariam Dagga, a 33-year-old freelance journalist who had worked for The Associated Press, was among the victims of the war. She and four other reporters were killed earlier in the week when Israeli forces struck Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, along with 17 other people.

Mariam had been documenting the experiences of ordinary Palestinians displaced by the war, as well as the work of doctors and nurses caring for the wounded and malnourished children.

The Israeli military stated that it had targeted what it believed was a Hamas surveillance camera in the hospital attack, without providing evidence, and that the journalists were not the targets. The prime minister described the attack as a "mishap."

For Mariam's father, Riyad, the explanations offered little comfort. He was in his tent in Khan Younis, nearly 180 kilometers away from Nazareth. Looking at the last photos taken by his daughter, he recalled the shock he felt upon hearing the news. He shared that he collapsed when he was told that Mariam had been killed.

Mariam's sister, Nada, was with her at the hospital when she was killed. Nada vividly remembered the last look the two sisters exchanged when the second strike hit the hospital's stairwell, where Mariam was killed.

It was Mariam's brother, Mohamed, who rushed into the stairwell in search of his sister, finding her among the bodies of her colleagues. He recounted pulling her out and taking her to the operations room.

Mariam's final photos showed the damaged stairwell outside Nasser Hospital, where she would be killed moments later. The photos depicted people walking up the staircase after the first strike, while others looked out the hospital's windows.