An afternoon Israeli drone strike targeted the car of Al-Jazeera correspondent in Gaza City Ismail Al-Ghoul after the drone chased him.

The airstrike murdered Ismail along with his colleague cameraman Rami Al-Rifi, where both were gruesomely beheaded. In addition, child Khaled Al-Shawwa who was riding his bicycle taking food to his relatives was also killed.

Veteran Palestinian Journalist Islam Badr who works for Al Araby TV recounted how the assassination unfolded: a group of journalists were reporting on the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh on the same day in front of the latter's residence, conducting interviews.

The area was situated a considerable distance from active combat zones. Drones were flying overhead and initiated a first airstrike around the reporting coverage area. The journalists then evacuated using two vehicles, one belonging to Ismail and another from a national press organization. The vehicles proceeded in opposite directions due to the hazardous situation. Moment later a second strike directly hit Ismail's vehicle. Islam Badr asserted that this was unequivocally intentional.

The next day the IDF officially boasted about the assassination, falsely labeling Ismail as a Nukhba operative in Hamas who "instructed other operatives on how to record operations and was actively involved in recording and publicizing attacks against IDF troops."

Ismail was instrumental in documenting and uncovering some of the major Israeli massacres including the murder of Hind Rajab, her family and paramedics, the Flour massacre, and the Al-Shifa hospital siege and total destruction, during which he was detained and abused by the IDF before being released on March 18th.