Five journalists among 20 killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza hospital

By Nkiruka Nnorom with agency reports

At least 20 people, including five journalists, are reported to have been killed in an Israeli strike on a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip,  intensifying concerns over the targeting of media personnel amid regime’s ongoing military campaign.

The journalists, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defence Agency, worked with international outlets, including the Associated Press, Reuters, Al Jazeera and Middle East Eye.

Several people were killed in an initial strike, and others in a second which happened as rescuers attended the scene, the agency said.

This comes few days after the United Nations, UN, declared famine in Gaza, the first ever in the Middle East. This latest incident also comes less than two weeks after Al Jazeera journalist, Anas al-Sharif, and four colleagues were killed near al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

The Civil defence spokesman, Mahmud Bassal, said: “The toll so far is 20 martyrs, including five journalists and one member of the civil defence”, after strikes hit Khan Yunis’s Nasser Hospital — a large medical complex that has been targeted several times by Israel since the start of the war.

In a statement, the Israeli military said its troops yesterday “carried out a strike in the area of Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis”.

“The Chief of the General Staff has been instructed to conduct an initial inquiry as soon as possible,” it said, adding it “regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and does not target journalists as such”.

The civil defence’s Bassal said an Israeli explosive drone targeted a building at the hospital, followed by an air strike as the wounded were being evacuated.

CPJ, Reporters Without Borders, others react, condemn killings

According to the media watchdogs, Committee to Protect Journalists, CPJ, and Reporters Without Borders, around 200 journalists have been killed in nearly two years of war between Israel and Hamas.

In a statement, the press organisation said it “fiercely condemns” the killings of the journalists. “How far will the Israeli armed forces go in their gradual effort to eliminate information coming from Gaza? How long will they continue to defy international humanitarian law?”

Also, reacting, CPJ’s Regional Director, Sara Qudah said Israel’s killing of journalists in the enclave continues while “the world watches and fails to act firmly on the most horrific attacks the press has ever faced in recent history.

“These murders must end now. The perpetrators must no longer be allowed to act with impunity,” Qudah said.

A spokesperson for Qatar-based TV network Al Jazeera said that one of its photojournalists and cameramen, Mohammad Salama, was killed in the attack.

“Al Jazeera Media Network condemns, in the strongest possible terms, this horrific crime committed by the Israeli occupation forces, who have directly targeted and assassinated journalists as part of a systematic campaign to silence the truth,” the broadcaster said in a statement.

The Associated Press said in a statement that it was shocked and saddened to learn of the death of Mariam Dagga, 33, a visual journalist who had freelanced for the agency since the start of the war.

In an earlier statement, it said Dagga had not been on an assignment with the agency when she was killed.

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