Wael Abu Quffah
Wāel Abu Quffah (Wāel Abū Quffah) (وائل أبو قفة) was one among at least 189 journalists and media workers killed by the Israeli military in Gaza. He worked as a sound editor at the educational Quran Karim Broadcast-Voice of the Islamic University of Gaza. His name appears on many of its programs. The Broadcast’s graduates come mainly from specializations in journalism and media (Faculty of Literature) and proselytizing and media (Faculty of Fundamentals of Religion), after receiving training in program preparation and presentation, broadcast engineering, and sound editing.
According to a message from his daughter to the account gaza_shaheed on Instagram, Abu Quffah received an MA in Digital Media from the Islamic University of Gaza and was in his third year working toward his PhD. And, she adds, prior to his graduate studies, he had done three years of academic work at the University of Mostghanem in Algeria.
An Israeli strike on the family house in the Nusayrat Refugee Camp in Dayr al-Balah Governorate, on 22 November 2024, took the lives of Wael and his thirteen-year-old son Emad (`Imad). Israel did not allow foreign journalists to enter Gaza to cover its invasion of the Strip, which made it easier to target Palestinian journalists.
The Palestinian Media Forum mourned their member’s murder in a statement that acknowledged Abu Quffah’s dedication in airing the suffering of the Palestinian people, and pledged to continue this mission. The Forum reminded the hard-of-hearing international community to act to put an end to the unprecedented Israeli slaughter of Palestinian journalists, which undermines their right and ability to perform the professional duties accorded to them by international law and humanitarian conventions.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in New York, reported that its preliminary investigations indicated that 189 journalists and media workers in Gaza were killed by Israel as of 8 October 2025. And it pointed out that Israel has killed more Palestinian journalists than were killed worldwide in the period 2020-22. In a statement regarding the slaughter of Palestinian journalists, the CPJ called “on the international community to hold Israel to account for its unlawful attacks on journalists; ensure international media is given immediate, independent access to Gaza; and open humanitarian corridors for journalists.”
In the above-cited message by his daughter, she included this personal note about him: “My father was very caring toward his daughters, generous with those he loved, and forthcoming with those who called on him.” And one of `Emad’s sisters posted this note on the account @gaza_shaheed, on X, “My brother `Emad was liked by everybody, and he liked children… and he tried to respond to anyone who approached him. `Emad departed from this world, but not from our hearts.”
(Wāel’s thirteen-year-old son `Emad)