Two Israeli strikes hit a hospital in southern Gaza on Monday, killing five Palestinian journalists and at least 15 more people, according to local health officials, in one of the deadliest attacks for journalists covering the nearly two-year war in the enclave.
The Gaza health ministry put the death toll at 20, also including medical staff, rescue workers and patients, and said dozens more had been injured. The five journalists had worked for media outlets including Reuters, The Associated Press and Al Jazeera, according to their employers.
The Israeli military said it had carried out a strike in the area of Nasser Hospital, without saying what the target was. The statement said the military regretted “any harm to uninvolved individuals,” adding that its chief of staff had ordered an immediate inquiry.
The war in Gaza that began nearly two years ago has been one of the deadliest conflicts anywhere for journalists, with at least 192 killed since the start, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The Israeli government has barred international journalists from entering Gaza to freely report throughout the war. That has left much of the world relying on Palestinian journalists — reporting amid bombardment and hunger — to understand the situation in Gaza.
The Gaza health ministry and hospital officials said that the first Israeli strike hit the fourth floor of Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis. It was followed by a second attack as ambulance crews arrived to retrieve the dead and wounded, the ministry said in a statement.
A live video feed from Al-Ghad TV, a pan-Arab broadcaster based in Cairo,captured the aftermath of a blast on the southeastern facade of Nasser hospital. The video, which was verified by The New York Times, showed emergency responders and others moving a white body bag on a staircase. Shortly after, a second strike is captured live on camera, leaving a cloud of dust and smoke.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to questions as to whether its forces had conducted a “double tap” strike, meaning a double strike at the same location. Rights groups have deplored such attacks, which can put rescue workers and other civilians gathering to help the wounded in danger.
Another video shared by a witness on social media shows about a dozen bodies, covered in dust and blood and apparently lifeless, piled along a staircase between the third and fourth floors of Nasser Hospital. The footage, verified by The Times, also shows men in civilian clothes inspecting the bodies after the second strike.
Gaza’s Civil Defense rescue service said one of its crew had been killed and seven other crew members were injured.
Hamas, the Palestinian group which seized full control of Gaza in 2007, named the five killed journalists as Hussam al-Masri, Mohammed Salama, Mariam Dagga, Moaz Abu Taha and Ahmad Abu Aziz.
The Reuters news agency confirmed that Mr. al-Masri was a contractor for Reuters and said a second contractor, photographer Hatem Khaled, had been injured in the attack.
Reuters added in a statement that Mr. Abu Taha was a freelance journalist whose work had been occasionally published by the agency. Reuters said it was “devastated” to learn of the losses, adding that it was “seeking more information from Israeli authorities about these latest strikes.”
Al Jazeera said that Mr. Salama, a cameraman, was one of its journalists. The Qatari-owned channel, which has frequently clashed with Israel, accused the Israeli military of killing its reporters as part of a “systematic campaign to silence the truth.”
The online outlet Middle East Eye identified Mr. Abu Aziz as a contributor to “dozens of reports” since the Gaza war began in late 2023.
The Israeli military said in its statement that it “does not target journalists as such.”
The Associated Press said that Ms. Dagga, 33, was a visual-media journalist who had freelanced for the agency, as well as other news outlets, throughout the war in Gaza, which was set off by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The agency said it was “shocked and saddened to learn” of her death, along with several other journalists, and added that her 12-year-old son had been evacuated from Gaza earlier in the war.
The Associated Press added that Ms. Dagga “frequently based herself at Nasser Hospital, most recently reporting on doctors struggling to save children with no prior health issues who were wasting away from starvation.”
The Foreign Press Association in Israel, which represents journalists working for the international media in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, said the strikes hit an exterior staircase of the hospital where journalists frequently stationed themselves with their cameras, and that the strikes came with no warning. The association said in a statement that it was “outraged and in shock.”
Israel has argued in the past that it struck medical facilities and hospital compounds in Gaza because Hamas routinely uses them for military purposes. Hamas has denied these claims.
Mohammad Saqer, a Gaza health official at Nasser Hospital, said the first of the two strikes hit the fourth floor of a hospital building, prompting first-responders and medical workers to rush to the scene. The second strike came several minutes later, killing and wounding some of them, he said.
“We are trying to preserve this hospital,” Mr. Saqer said. “If the Israelis think there’s been any violation here, they should talk to us, and we can solve the problem,” he said.
“Instead, they’re bombing,” he added.
Ayat Al-Haj, the hospital’s public relations coordinator, described a scene of choking smoke and dust. “We couldn’t see anything,” she said in trembling voice, speaking by phone from her office after the strikes. “All we could hear were screams.”
Aritz Parra, Abu Bakr Bashir and Rawan Sheikh Ahmad contributed reporting.
Isabel Kershner, a Times correspondent in Jerusalem, has been reporting on Israeli and Palestinian affairs since 1990.
Aaron Boxerman is a Times reporter covering Israel and Gaza. He is based in Jerusalem.
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