Another journalist dead. Another name added to the grim tally of media workers killed in Gaza. Sources confirm that an Israeli airstrike struck a residential building in Gaza City this morning, killing Al Jazeera cameraman Ahmed al-Louh. He was 35, married, father of two.
Al-Louh was not a target. He was doing his job. Documenting the war. The strike obliterated the fourth floor of the building where he was staying. Neighbours say there was no warning. No precision. Just a bomb that turned a home into a grave.
Al Jazeera called it a "deliberate attack on journalists." The Israeli military said it was targeting a Hamas command centre. Conveniently placed under a journalist's bedroom, apparently.
This is the 17th journalist killed since the war began. Unconfirmed reports suggest up to 20 more have been injured. The Committee to Protect Journalists is screaming for an investigation. The UN is calling for accountability. But in Gaza, accountability is a ghost. It doesn't show up.
I have seen the footage. Al-Louh's last report was shot hours before his death. He was standing in the rubble of a school. He said, "This is where children used to play." Then he signed off.
Now his camera is shattered. His blood is on the concrete. And the world scrolls past on Twitter.
This is not collateral damage. This is a pattern. Since October, Israel has hit three media offices, two press vans, and killed journalists in their homes. Every time the same response: "Hamas was there." Every time no evidence. Every time journalists die.
Ahmed al-Louh had no military affiliation. He was a member of the Arab Journalists Union. He wore a flak jacket marked PRESS. He did everything right. He still got killed.
His colleagues say he was talking about leaving Gaza the day before. He was scared for his children. But he stayed because he believed the world needed to see the truth.
The truth is a dead man on a stretcher. The truth is a child who will never see his father again. The truth is a strike that was not an accident.
I am looking at leaked intelligence documents from a Western source. They show that the Israeli military categorises journalists as legitimate targets if they are "embedded with hostile elements." What does that mean? Filming in a war zone? Living in a building near a militant? That is not a crime. That is journalism.
The international community will condemn. The US will express concern. And the air force will refuel for the next sortie.
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau is a ghost town. The journalists who remain are sleeping in the office, scared to go home. They know they are next.
Ahmed al-Louh's camera is now a war trophy. It will be studied for intelligence. But it will never capture another story.
The media is not the enemy. The media is the witness. And witnesses are being erased one by one.
This is not a war crime. This is a message. And the message is clear: If you film us, we will kill you.