Two Israeli strikes hit a hospital in southern Gaza on Monday, killing four Palestinian journalists, a rescue worker and several more people, according to local officials.
The Gaza health ministry put the initial death toll at eight and said many more had been injured. The four journalists killed all had worked for international media outlets, local journalists said.
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 the military’s 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 for journalists, with at least 192 killed since the start of the war, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The killings have prompted international outrage.
The Israeli government has barred international journalists from entering Gaza unescorted throughout the war.
The Gaza health ministry said in a preliminary statement 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 Israeli military did not immediately respond to questions as to whether its forces had conducted a “double tap” strike.
A video shared 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 checking some of the bodies. The same men could be seen responding immediately after the second strike in other footage from the hospital’s entrance.
Gaza’s Civil Defense rescue service said one of its crew had been killed and seven other crew members were injured.
Hamas — the Palestinian militant group that has long ruled Gaza — identified the four journalists who were killed as Hussam al-Masri, Mohammed Salama, Mariam Dagga and Moaz Abu Taha.
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.
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 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.”
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 one of the upper floors of a hospital building used for surgeries. The second strike came several minutes later, 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 added.
“Instead, they’re bombing.”
Abu Bakr Bashir, Ameera Harouda 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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