Al Jazeera Journalist Hamza Dahdouh and freelancer Mustafa Thuraya were killed Sunday (January 7) in an Israeli airstrike in the Western part of Gaza, according to Al Jazeera.

Dahdouh was the son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief, Wael Dahdouh, whose wife Amna; grandchild Adam; son Mahmoud, and seven-year-old daughter Sham, were killed in an airstrike back in October.

According to the news outlet, Hamza Dahdouh and Thuraya were in a supposed "safe area," and were targeted by Israeli forces, a charge that the Committee to Protect Journalists has been leveling given the large number of journalist deaths, most of them Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes.

The journalists were said to be trying to interview displaced civilians when they were killed.

CPJ says that more journalists have been killed -- 77 was the count before Sunday's deaths -- in the 10 weeks of this war than in a year in any single country since CPJ has been keeping track of journalists deaths.

Of that 77, says CPJ, 70 were Palestinian.

"CPJ is particularly concerned about an apparent pattern of targeting journalists and their families by the Israeli military," CPJ says. "In at least one case, a journalist was killed while clearly wearing press insignia in a location where no fighting was taking place."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations Sunday called on the Biden Administration to condemn what it said was Israel's targeting of journalists.

A building that was home to media outlets Al Jazeera and the AP in Gaza City was destroyed in an Israeli air raid Saturday (May 15), according to Al Jazeera.

It was unclear whether there were any casualties, though Al Jazeera reported that Israel had warned occupants of the building, including the journalists, to evacuate an hour before the attack.

The AP said on its website that its staffers and other residents of the building had all evacuated following that call from Israeli military, after which three missiles struck the building, reducing it to rubble.

Also Read: RTDNA Survey Finds Unprecedented Attacks on Journalists

AP had occupied top floor offices for the last 15 years, including 24-hour live shots of the rockets aimed at Israel and the Israeli airstrikes like the one that leveled the building.

“The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today,” said AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt in a statement. “We are shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing AP’s bureau and other news organizations in Gaza.”

According to the New York Times, the Israeli military said it struck the building because it also housed military assets of Hamas and the AP said the military claimed Hamas was using journalists to shield those assets. But AP said it provided no evidence that was the case.

Also Read: CPJ Cites Attacks on Journalists

Only the day before had it been called for Israeli forces to ensure that journalists could cover the conflict freely and safely. Following the attack on the building, CPJ Middle East and North Africa representative Ignacio Miguel Delgado said: "It is utterly unacceptable for Israel to bomb and destroy the offices of media outlets and endanger the lives of journalists, especially since Israeli authorities know where those media outlets are housed," and reiterated CPJ's call for protections. "Israeli authorities must ensure that journalists can do their jobs safely without fear of being injured or killed.”

According to Reporters Without Borders,  Israeli airstrikes during the conflict have already destroyed buildings housing numerous media outlets including the pan-Arab TV channel Al-Araby and radio and TV outlet Al-Aqsa, with Israel saying Hamas was hiding weapons in those buildings as well.

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore has sued Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based media company that purchased his Current TV in 2013 for $500 million, in state court in Wilmington, Delaware, claiming it has failed to make payments to himself and his partners.

According to a case summary of the suit, Gore claims that Al Jazeera has withheld about $65 million in payments due him and his partners in an escrow account. According to the summary, about $85 million of the purchase price was placed in escrow in 2013, mainly for the purpose of satisfying indemnification obligations of the sellers. Those unused funds were to be returned after the escrow period on July 2, 2014.

“Rather than return the $65 million remaining in the escrow, as it was obligated to do, Defendant, on June 27, 2014, submitted five claim certificates through which it attempts to manufacture several ways to retain all of the escrow balance for itself in express violation of the merger agreement,” according to the case summary.

Gore, who formed Current TV in 2005, sold the cable network in January 2013 to Al Jazeera, which then used the channel to launch its Al Jazeera America network. The sale was surprising at the time in that Al Jazeera was willing to pay such a hefty price for a network with minuscule ratings. The deal highlighted the value of carriage – despite its low ratings, the network was available in about 58 million homes. Although it suffered some resistance in the beginning – Time Warner Cable initially dropped the network but later reinstated it – Al Jazeera America is now available in about 55 million homes in the U.S.

In a statement, Gore’s attorney, David Boies, said that Al Jazeera “wants to give itself a discount,” over the purchase price it agreed to in 2012.

“We are asking the court to order Al Jazeera America to stop wrongfully withholding the escrow funds that belong to Current’s former shareholders,” Boies said in the statement.

The case has been filed under seal in Delaware Chancery Court in Wilmington, although Boies is trying to get the court to unseal the document.

“We do not believe that our complaint should be sealed,” Boies said in a statement. “However, despite being a news organization, Al Jazeera America has said that the full complaint should be kept from the public file.  We have therefore filed the complaint under seal until the Court can resolve this issue.  We expect that the Court will reject Al Jazeera America’s argument.”

“Our outside counsel is reviewing the complaint,” Al Jazeera America spokeswoman Dawn Bridges said in an e-mail message. “We think it relates to a commercial dispute between former shareholders of Current Media and Al Jazeera America. We may have further comment once they’ve fully reviewed everything.”