Gaza City, Gaza Strip – Just hours before his assassination, Mohammed Wishah, a correspondent for Al Jazeera Mubasher, was sitting with his fellow journalists in a tent near al-Shifa Hospital in central Gaza City.

The gathering on Wednesday was typical, bringing together colleagues who had become friends after working closely together for more than two years covering Israel’s genocidal war that had destroyed so much around them.

None of them knew it would be their last meeting.

As Wishah was driving his car south, heading back to his home in Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, and along the al-Rashid coastal road, an Israeli drone fired a missile that directly struck his car.

Wishah was declared dead immediately; the vehicle had caught fire and turned into a mass of flames on the roadside.

Wishah’s killing came as a major shock to his fellow journalists in Gaza, who rushed to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah to bid him farewell and take part in his funeral.

During the funeral, which set off on Thursday morning from the hospital, dozens of journalists gathered to mourn Wishah alongside his family and relatives. A deep sorrow hung over the mourners, as well as an intense anger over the repeated targeting of journalists in Gaza.

Wishah was born in 1986 in Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. He studied, graduated, and worked as a journalist, then joined Al Jazeera Mubasher – Al Jazeera’s Arabic-language live television network – in 2018, where he remained until he was assassinated.

Talal al-Arouqi, a fellow correspondent with Al Jazeera Mubasher, said that he was extremely sad to lose Wishah as a colleague, as well as a friend.

“Mohammed was like a spiritual father to us here during the war in the Gaza Strip,” al-Arouqi told Al Jazeera. “We used to turn to him for every detail of the work and coverage.”

“We consulted him on everything, big and small, because he was sincere and kind. He was a colleague, a brother, a friend, and someone loved by everyone,” he added. “Everyone here loved Mohammed. Everyone here cried in grief and heartbreak over him. Everyone was devastated and shocked by the news of his killing.”

Al-Arouqi said that he believed Israel had deliberately targeted Wishah following an incitement campaign against him, similar to the ones that had taken place against fellow Al Jazeera journalists Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh before their killings, accusing them without basis of being members of Hamas.

Because of the incitement campaign by the Israeli army against Wishah, he was forced – during his war coverage – to stay away from his home and family, in addition to facing intense work pressure.

He would sleep in tents with other journalists and work long hours throughout the day. And he would have known the risks of working as a journalist in Gaza: authorities in the Palestinian enclave say that 262 media workers have been killed by Israel since the start of the war in October 2023.

Abdullah Miqdad, a correspondent for Al Araby TV in Gaza, was one of those who knew Wishah. He said Israel needs to be held accountable.

“These operations targeting journalists in Gaza would not have continued were it not for the absence of legal accountability and prosecution of Israel,” Miqdad said. “Today, we lost Mohammed Wishah. And he will not be the last.”

Miqdad called for international institutions to offer real protection for Palestinian journalists, in line with international humanitarian law, which guarantees the protection of journalists in conflict zones.

“Mohammed and other journalists are supposed to be protected under this law,” he said, “and there should be real action to protect them and prevent their targeting or harm under any circumstances.”

Al Jazeera journalists targeted

For Al Jazeera’s team in Gaza, Wishah’s death was the latest in a long line of tragedies.

Wishah is the 12th Al Jazeera journalist or media worker in Gaza to have been killed by Israeli forces since the start of the war. The others are Samer Abu Daqqa, Hamza al-Dahdouh, Ismail al-Ghoul, Ahmed al-Louh, Rami al-Rifi, Anas al-Sharif, Ibrahim al-Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, Muhammad Qreiqeh, Muhammad Salama, and Hussam Shabat.

Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza organised a press vigil in front of the Al Jazeera tent near al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, condemning the killing of Wishah and other colleagues at the network.

Moamen al-Sharafi, a correspondent for Al Jazeera Arabic, eulogised Wishah’s long career, which included coverage of Israeli wars on Gaza, as well as repeated Israeli assaults, even as he endured the hardships of war, displacement, siege, and starvation.

“Mohammed’s banner has not fallen, nor that of his colleagues who came before him. It is the banner of truth that must continue,” al-Sharafi said.

“We affirm that assassinations and the liquidation of Palestinian journalists will not deter us from continuing this coverage, despite the risks and the extensive incitement campaigns led by the Israeli side and its forces against Palestinian journalists, especially those of Al Jazeera,” he added.

Hind Khoudary, a correspondent for Al Jazeera English, expressed her deep sorrow over Wishah’s loss, describing him as a “companion in the journey of displacement”.

“We worked together at al-Shifa Hospital at the beginning of the war, then after displacement, we moved to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which became our place of displacement and our second home,” Khoudary said.

“There were many daily details I shared with Mohammed… Mohammed Wishah was like a spiritual father to female journalists, especially those without their families,” she said. “He always looked after us and tried to provide everything, even when there was no food.”

“The loss of Mohammed is a huge loss… he was a humane and professional journalist,” Khoudary added. “We still cannot believe he was targeted while there is said to be a ceasefire, even as the killing and targeting continue.”

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Navy posted a map showing alternative shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz to help transiting ships avoid naval mines, the semi-official Iranian news agency ISNA said early on Thursday.

The status of the Strait of Hormuz is unclear after Iranian media outlets released conflicting reports regarding whether or not oil tankers were being allowed to transit the waterway on Wednesday.

According to Iranian state-owned Press TV, the strait has been fully closed, and all tankers attempting to pass through have been turned around.

Shortly before Press TV declared the closure, Iranian state-owned Student News Network (SSN) reported that safe passage routes through the Strait of Hormuz have been designated and must be used by ships in coordination with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The organization said that the safe entry path is from the Sea of Oman towards the north of Larak Island, while the safe exit path from the Gulf passes south of Larak Island and towards the Sea of Oman.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday it would be unacceptable for ships to have to pay a fee to cross the Strait of Hormuz as Iran has suggested, and such a move would set a dangerous precedent for freedom of navigation.

The Iran war has threatened Gulf ports and disrupted global trade through the strait, a waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes.

Greece controls one of the largest merchant fleets globally in terms of cargo-carrying capacity.

Earlier on Wednesday, IRGC-tied outlet Fars News reported that Iran had once again closed the Strait of Hormuz, blocking oil tankers from transiting the waterway, in retaliation for Israeli strikes on Hezbollah.

Oil tankers attempting to transit the strait received threatening messages from the Iranian Navy, according to several shipping sources.

“Any vessel trying to travel into the sea… will be targeted and destroyed…” the message, which was received by several vessels, said.

The lack of a two-week pause in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah appears to be a dealbreaker for Iran’s regime as the ceasefire takes effect.

While the Trump administration maintains the deal does not include the Tehran-backed terrorist movement Hezbollah, Iran is threatening to use that exclusion as a pressure point against the U.S., potentially collapsing the entire ceasefire.

On Wednesday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi wrote on X that “The Iran–U.S. Ceasefire terms are clear and explicit: the U.S. must choose—ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both. The world sees the massacres in Lebanon. The ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments.”

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His comments were later echoed by Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, citing Israeli attacks in Lebanon. Earlier in the day, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz ​Sharif, a key intermediary in ceasefire talks between the U.S. and Iran over Operation Epic Fury, said the ​two-week ceasefire would include Lebanon.

Hezbollah reneged on a U.S. negotiated November 2024 ceasefire by entering the war against Israel on March 2025 to aid Iran. Many experts say long-term regional security depends on Lebanon’s government and army disarming the terror group.

Edy Cohen, an Israeli security expert on Hezbollah, who was born in Lebanon, told Fox News Digital that “Hezbollah will never disarm itself. From its perspective, it protects two million Shiites. The only way to defeat Hezbollah is to first define it as a terrorist organization. Not to allow its political wing to exist and also to order the Lebanese army to gather in the areas under its control area by area.”

He added that “Dismantling Hezbollah must be carried out in stages. The Lebanese government must first take possession of the heavy weapons. Not to allow it to concentrate except in Dahiya [a Beirut suburb that is a Hezbollah and Shiite stronghold]. Leave it in one place and control all the roads leading to it. Little by little, it can be dismantled. Israel cannot and should not disarm Hezbollah. It can only assist with bombing from above.”

TRUMP’S IRAN CEASEFIRE ROCKED WITHIN HOURS AMID REPORTED MISSILE, DRONE ATTACKS

On Wednesday, the IDF said it hit over 100 targets in 10 minutes, including, “Hezbollah headquarters, military arrays, and command-and-control centers: Intelligence command centers and central headquarters used by Hezbollah terrorists for directing and planning terror attacks against IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians.” Reuters, quoting the country’s health ministry, said some 91 people were killed in Beirut, with a total of at least 182 killed nationwide on Wednesday.

The IDF added, “The large-scale strike was based on precise IDF intelligence and was planned meticulously over weeks. Most of the infrastructure that was struck was located within the heart of the civilian population, as part of Hezbollah’s cynical exploitation of Lebanese civilians as human shields in order to safeguard its operations. Prior to the strikes, steps were taken to mitigate harm to uninvolved individuals as much as possible.”

Since the war started and before Wednesday’s attacks, Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 1,530 people in Lebanon, according to the Associated Press. The Long War Journal notes “that neither the Lebanese Health Ministry nor Hezbollah has provided an official count of the group’s fallen fighters.”

Guila Fakhoury, whose father, Amer, was kidnapped by Hezbollah in 2019, told Fox News Digital that “Iran and the IRGC are occupying Lebanon through their proxy Hezbollah.” 

Fakhoury, who was born in Lebanon, said, “The majority of Lebanese people believe the actions of Hezbollah caused Israel to occupy southern Lebanon and don’t want Iran and Hezbollah. Hezbollah is threatening the entire government.”

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As the president and co-founder of the Amer Foundation, an organization dedicated to help families of illegal detainees and educate on Middle East policy and geopolitics, she said is seeing some positive steps being taken including Lebanese President Joseph Aoun calling for negotiations with Israel.

She said the “only solution is to have peace with Israel. I think there a lot of Shiites who are against Hezbollah… The majority of the Lebanese people just want peace. We hope the Trump administration will push the Lebanese government and Israel’s government to start peace talks.”

Last week, Iran’s regime defied Lebanon’s expulsion order for its ambassador by saying he would stay, further increasing tensions in a country in the crosshairs of the latest fighting between the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Israel.

Lebanon had declared Ambassador Mohammad Reza Shibani “persona non grata” to weaken Iran’s diplomatic presence and have a chargé d’affaires at its embassy instead. But the deadline to leave the country was Sunday and an Iranian spokesperson said the ambassador’s mission in Beirut continues.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Lebanon’s government and the Embassy in Washington D.C. for a comment.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.