Double-tap Israeli strikes on Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza on Monday killed at least 15 people, including four journalists, the Gaza Health Ministry said in a statement.
The dead media professionals were named as Hussam al-Masri, a cameraman working for Reuters News Agency; Mohammed Salama, a photojournalist with Al Jazeera; Mariam Abu Daqqa (aka Mariam Dagga), a journalist working with several media outlets including Associated Press, and Moaz Abu Taha, a journalist working for the NBC network.
The ministry said that there had been two strikes. The first had targeted the fourth floor of the hospital, and was followed by a second strike which hit the same location as first responders rushed to recover the injured and dead, and journalists followed close behind to capture what had happened.
Photographer Hatem Khaled, who was also a Reuters contractor, was also named as having been wounded.
Reuters confirmed Al-Masri’s death and Khaled’s injuries in a statement.
“We are devastated to learn of the death of Reuters contractor, Hussam al-Masri, and injuries to another of our contractors, Hatem Khaled, in strikes on the Nasser hospital in Gaza today.” it read.
“We send our deepest condolences and thoughts to Hussam’s family and loved ones. We are urgently seeking more information and have asked authorities in Gaza and Israel to help us get urgent medical assistance for Hatem. We will give an update when we have more information.”
Female photographer Abu Daqqa, who is among the dead, had won renown and the moniker “the adventurer” for her work documenting the impact of Israel’s military campaign and occupation of the Gaza Strip on children and civilian life.
There was no comment from Israel on the strikes.
The deaths come amid growing condemnation over the number of Palestinian journalists and media works to been killed, injured or declared missing since the beginning of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, sparked by the Hamas-led October 7 terror attacks.
It has also added fuel to suggestions that Israel is deliberately targeting media workers to prevent them from documenting events on the ground in Gaza.
Figures released by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) on August 18, stated that at least 212 Palestinian journalists and media workers had been killed.
Monday’s deaths come just two weeks after Israeli forces killed five Al Jazeera staff in an attack on a tent housing journalists located outside Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
They included celebrated Gaza journalist Anas al-Sharif alongside correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, camera operators Ibrahim Zaher and Moamen Aliwa, and driver Mohammed Noufal.
Israel claimed that al-Sharif, who was one of Gaza’s most famous journalists, was a Hamas member posing as a journalist. This has claim has been refuted by Al-Jazeera and a number of other media orgs.
A group of Democrat senators led by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who is Jewish, wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on August 22 saying Israel had not provided “convincing evidence” to back up its claim of al-Sharif’s Hamas membership.
“The recent targeted Israeli strike on a group of journalists and media workers, which killed six journalists, including well-known Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif, is just one example of attacks on reporters in Gaza and part of a pattern of violence that has silenced the voices of far too many Gazan journalists,” wrote the senators in their statement.
The post Palestinian Journalists Working For Reuters, AP, Al-Jazeera & NBC Killed In Israeli Strikes On Gaza Hospital appeared first on Deadline.
