Middle East Eye loses contact with Gaza-based reporters
Middle East Eye lost contact with its Gaza-based journalists Maha Hussaini and Mohammed al-Hajjar on Friday after the Israeli military told more than one million Palestinians they had just 24 hours to relocate to the southern part of the besieged enclave.
The last contact MEE had with Maha Hussaini, who won the 2020 Martin Adler Prize for journalism and was a finalist this month in the local reporter category at the Kurt Schork Awards in International Journalism, was at 03:40 GMT.
On Thursday, Hussaini published what she feared could be her "last video", and said she had lost contact with at least nine fellow journalists, some of whom had either been covering events on the ground or were at their homes at the time of an Israeli air strike.
"Everything and everyone can be targeted in Gaza," she said.
"Internet services have been disrupted after Israel targeted and bombed the two main telecommunication companies in the Gaza Strip.
The last communication MEE had with Hajjar was at 13:00 GMT, when the father of two said some 70 members of his extended family were trying to leave Gaza City.
With only two cars between them, Hajjar said he was unsure whether they would be able to do so.