Deir Al Balah, January 6 (RHC)-- A Palestinian writer, poet and journalist has been killed in an Israeli air strike in northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, according to his family, taking the total number of journalists killed in the Israel-Palestine conflict since October 7, 2023 to 220.

Mohammad Hijazi was among nearly 90 Palestinians slain in Israeli bombardment across the besieged territory in the last 24 hours, according to a Gaza Health Ministry statement on Sunday.

Hundreds of people have been killed in the Jabalia camp since Israel imposed a military siege of northern Gaza on October 5 and intensified bombardment, forcing thousands to flee. Israel has prevented even aid groups from supplying basic food items to the area.

“I don’t know if I will write to you again.  I keep what I have written and am writing. Maybe it will come to light one day.  I refuse a cheap death.  I curse the murderer,” Hijazi wrote on Facebook in August of last year.

“Let us in this bottom that we have finally reached, arm ourselves with patience and prayer, and count the days we have lived as a historic achievement, while awaiting what is coming with a broken heart, an extinguished eye, a head held high, and a spirit that fights until the end of the road.”

Since the beginning of its intensified war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, Israel has killed at least 220 journalists and media workers, including Hijazi.  Meanwhile, Gaza’s Health Ministry reported on Sunday that at least 88 Palestinians had been killed and 208 others injured in the past 24 hours.

The latest fatalities bring the death toll of Palestinians killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza to at least 45,805 since October 2023, while an estimated 109,064 have been injured.

Among those killed in the latest Israeli strikes across Gaza on Sunday were three Palestinians who were living in a tent in Deir el-Balah, according to Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from central Gaza.

A family of 15 people were also buried under the rubble in the northwest of Gaza City, following a separate strike, Mahmoud reported.  “The Palestinian Civil Defence is doing its best to remove bodies from under the rubble, but has only removed four of the family members,” he said.

“It’s estimated there are at least 15 family members under the three-storey building that was flattened to the ground.   “These repeated attacks – deliberate against families – continue to unfold, causing more tragedies among Palestinians.”