TRT World has conveyed its deepest condolences to its Gaza correspondent, Ashraf Shannon, after an Israeli air strike killed his brother and caused significant damage to his family home.
The strike late on Friday, which Israel said targeted Hamas military chief Izz al-Din al-Haddad, killed Shannon's brother as part of what has become a devastating pattern of aerial bombardment across the besieged territory, where civilian casualties have mounted relentlessly even after a truce in October 2025.
Shortly after the strike, Shannon, in his report on TRT World, said that his brother, along with several other Palestinians, was wounded.
Shannon said his brother, who was 45 years old and had Down syndrome, sustained shrapnel wounds to his thigh and abdomen before being rushed to al-Shifa Hospital.
On Saturday, TRT World correspondent Abdalwahab Hamad confirmed that he had succumbed to his injuries.
Medics in Gaza on Friday said that at least seven people, including three women and a child, were killed and at least 50 were wounded in air strikes targeting an apartment and a vehicle.
Israel has killed over 72,600 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded more than 172,000 others in its genocide in Gaza since October 2023.
It has reduced most of the enclave to ruins and displaced all of its population.
Although a ceasefire was reached in October 2025, Israel kept violating it daily, killing around 857 Palestinians and wounding 2,486 others.
