Israeli forces killed 5 Palestinian journalists on Monday in an airstrike on one of many few hospitals remaining in Gaza — an assault carried out regardless of rising world condemnation of Israel’s targeting of Palestinian journalists and its ongoing ban on worldwide media from getting into the territory.
The Israeli assault on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis killed at the least 20 Palestinians and injured dozens extra, together with rescuers and medical employees, in line with the Gaza Well being Ministry. The army carried out what’s known as a double-tap strike: the primary missile hit the hospital’s roof and killed a Reuters journalist throughout his livestream, followed by a second missile that hit first responders and reporters responding to the preliminary one.
The 4 journalists who had been initially killed whereas reporting from Nasser are Hussam al-Masri (Reuters), Maryam Abu Daqqa (Associated Press), Moaz Abu Taha (Reuters) and Mohammad Salama (Al Jazeera). The fifth, Ahmed Abu Aziz (Center East Eye) died from wounds sustained within the assault. A sixth journalist, Hassan Douhan, was killed by Israeli forces on Monday in a separate incident inside Khan Younis.
“Palestinian journalists proper now are crying. If I present you my colleagues which might be sitting, between the reporting and between their reside shifts, they’re attempting to carry their tears,” Al Jazeera correspondent Hind Khoudary said from Gaza. “They’re looking for the phrases to explain what’s occurring. Our colleagues had been killed reside on-air, and there’s no manner there are any phrases to explain what’s occurring. Each single day we’re mourning folks.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday called the attack a “tragic mishap” and mentioned the Israeli authorities “values” the work of journalists, medical employees and civilians. The assertion contradicts the prime minister’s baseless accusations that Palestinian journalists are literally members of Hamas, and ignores the truth that Israeli forces have, in line with the UN, killed at the least 240 media employees in Gaza since October 2023.
The Israeli Protection Forces separately said that authorities are investigating the bombing, although the army has a fame of hardly ever holding Israeli perpetrators accountable. IDF spokesperson BG Effie Defrin repeated the unsubstantiated declare that Hamas militants function in hospitals like Nasser, which the IDF has targeted multiple times over the previous two years. However even when militants had been discovered to be inside a hospital, Israel would nonetheless violate worldwide regulation by bombing the establishment.
“I’m not glad about it. I don’t need to see it,” President Donald Trump mentioned when requested in regards to the assault. “However on the identical time, we have now to finish that complete nightmare.”
Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu by way of Getty Photos
Israel is already going through anger and condemnation from the United Nations, rights teams and multiple governments for the hospital airstrike and the killing of extra journalists, with some voices calling for sanctions in opposition to Israel. The army bombed a media tent close to Al-Shifa Hospital simply two weeks earlier, killing high-profile Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif and his 4 colleagues.
“The blood of our martyred journalists in Gaza has not but dried earlier than the Israeli occupation forces dedicated one other crime in opposition to” journalists, Al Jazeera mentioned.
As a result of Israel continues to dam entry to Gaza for international media — except they comply with a uncommon IDF-led guided tour — worldwide shops have closely relied on Palestinian civilians’ and journalists’ on-the-ground protection. Press freedom teams have warned that assaults on journalists might end in Gaza experiencing a media blackout whereas Israel escalates its marketing campaign of violence.
“For the previous 22 months, we have now watched as healthcare services have been leveled, journalists silenced and healthcare employees buried beneath the rubble by the Israeli forces,” Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said. “As Israel continues to shun worldwide regulation, the one witnesses of their genocidal marketing campaign are intentionally being focused. It should cease now.”
