Days before, a source for one of Salama’s major investigations for MEE told him that they had been briefly detained at an aid distribution centre by US security contractors guarding the site.
There, the source said, they had been interrogated about the identity of the reporter behind the story. Salama worked on the story anonymously for security reasons.
“The source would not have been in contact with me unless they thought something was deeply wrong,” Salama told colleagues at the time.
When asked if he felt safe knowing he was being pursued for his work, Salama replied: “We journalists are never safe in Gaza.”
Middle East Eye asked Safe Reach Solutions and UG Solutions, the two US security firms working at the aid distribution sites, whether they were involved in the source’s interrogation.
MEE also asked if their employees were passing intelligence to Israel on the identity of Palestinian journalists such as Salama.
They had not replied by the time of publication.