Another Palestinian journalist killed by Israel in Gaza Strip, death toll rises to 142 since Oct. 7

Another Palestinian journalist was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip on Monday, taking the death toll to 142 since last October, the government media office said.

Mustafa Ayad, a photojournalist, lost his life in an attack targeting his house in Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City, the media office said in a statement.

His death brought the number of journalists killed in Israel's ongoing onslaught on the Gaza Strip to 142 since Oct. 7, 2023.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a cross-border attack on Oct. 7 last year by Hamas, which killed about 1,200 people. Nearly 34,700 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and 78,000 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Nearly seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave's population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians there.