Israel bombed the main hospital in southern Gaza on Monday and then struck the same spot again as rescuers and journalists rushed to help the wounded, killing at least 20 people including five journalists, health officials said.
The first strike hit the top floor of a building at the Nasser hospital, killing the Reuters journalist Hussam al-Masri and others. Journalists and rescuers then rushed to the scene to help the wounded, when a second bomb struck the same spot, 15 minutes later.
A live video from AlGhad TV captured the moments of their killings, showing civil defence workers wearing bright orange vests and journalists raising their hands to shield themselves seconds before the second bomb kills them. A second video showed the aftermath of the bombings, with the bodies of the first responders and journalists lying on top of one another, bloody and covered in dust.
The “double tap” strike and killing of journalists prompted a wave of international condemnation, including from the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy. “Horrified by Israel’s attack on Nasser hospital. Civilians, healthcare workers and journalists must be protected. We need an immediate ceasefire,” Lammy wrote on X.
The US president, Donald Trump, told reporters: “I’m not happy about it,” when asked about the attack, while the French president, Emmanuel Macron, described it as “intolerable”.
Meanwhile, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel deeply regretted what he described as a “tragic mishap” at the Nasser hospital.
Israel has regularly struck hospitals, claiming without evidence that Hamas uses them for military purposes. It also regularly kills journalists in Gaza, on some occasions with the justification that the journalists were associated with Hamas – claims that journalistic bodies have described as baseless.
The strikes on Monday killed the Reuters journalist Hussam al-Masri; Mariam Abu Dagga, who worked for the Associated Press; the Al Jazeera journalist Mohammed Salam; the photojournalist Moaz Abu Taha, and Ahmad Abu Aziz from Quds Feed. Another Reuters journalist, Hatem Khaled, was wounded in the attack.
At least 193 Palestinian journalists have been killed since 7 October 2023, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), more than the number who died globally in the previous three years.
The CPJ condemned the Israeli strike and called for action from the international community. “Israel’s broadcasted killing of journalists in Gaza continues while the world watches and fails to act firmly on the most horrific attacks the press has faced in recent history,” said its regional director, Sara Qudah. “These unlawful killings must end now. The perpetrators must no longer be allowed to act with impunity.”
The Associated Press said it was shocked and saddened to learn of Dagga’s death, as well as the deaths of the other journalists killed alongside her. “We are doing everything we can to keep our journalists in Gaza safe as they continue to provide crucial eyewitness reporting in difficult and dangerous conditions,” the agency said.
Reuters said it was devastated at the news of the death of Masri and wounding of Khaled. “We are urgently seeking more information and have asked authorities in Gaza and Israel to help us get urgent medical assistance for Hatem,” a spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for the Israeli military said the chief-of-staff had ordered a preliminary investigation into the strike and said Israel “expressed regret for injury to uninvolved personnel”. Israel “does not target journalists as such”, they said.
Israeli inquiries into misconduct by its military rarely ensure accountability. A report published this month showed that 88% of investigations into war crimes allegations in Gaza were shut down or left unresolved. Israel’s investigation into the killing of the Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by an Israeli sniper in 2022 was never completed.
Dagga, 33, had freelanced for the AP since the Gaza war began, as well as for other news outlets such as Independent Arabia. She reported on Nasser hospital doctors struggling to save children with no previous health issues who were wasting away from starvation.
Independent Arabia said Dagga was the “example of dedication and professional commitment” and that she had carried “her camera into the heart of the field, conveying the suffering of civilians and the voices of victims with rare honesty and courage”.
Dagga had forbidden crying at her funeral, a colleague and friend said.“Mariam had left us instructions not to cry for her when we bid her farewell. She wanted us to spend time with her body, speak to her and take our fill of her before she left,” said Samaheer Farhan, a 21-year-old freelance journalist and friend of Dagga.
Dagga, like other journalists in Gaza, had written a will in case she was killed while reporting. She left behind a letter for her 13-year-old son, Ghaith, telling him: “Make me proud … become successful and excel.”
Abu Aziz was based in the Nasser hospital, where he covered the impact of Israel’s attacks on people across Gaza. He had lost several colleagues during the war, as well as his own home, which was levelled in a strike. “It felt like I was all alone and the only one left on the ground as so many more of my colleagues were being killed,” Abu Aziz wrote in an article for Middle East Eye a year ago about his experience as a journalist in Gaza.
Al Jazeera confirmed that Salam was among those killed in the Nasser hospital strike. Reuters reported that Masri, a contractor cameraman, was also killed. Khaled, a photographer who was also a Reuters contractor, was wounded, the news agency reported.
Israel has prevented international media from covering the 22-month conflict, an unprecedented ban in the history of war reporting. Palestinian journalists in Gaza who work with international outlets carry out their duties while facing starvation and the risk of death.
The Palestinian ministry of health said Monday’s strikes on the Nasser hospital had disrupted surgery in the operating theatre. It condemned the attack, which it said was part of a “systematic destruction of the health system”. The hospital is the only functioning public hospital left in southern Gaza.
Health officials also reported gunfire that killed people seeking aid in central Gaza and airstrikes in Gaza City.
At least six people were killed and 15 wounded while trying to reach a food distribution site in central Gaza operated by the private US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Shootings by Israeli soldiers near GHF sites are a near daily occurrence, though the Israeli military and GHF deny targeting people seeking food.
A strike on a residential neighbourhood in Gaza City killed at least three people, including a child. Israel is preparing for an invasion of the city in the coming days, which it says it will occupy and take control of.
Aid groups have said the operation would lead to displacement and a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, which is already in the throes of famine.
At least 62,686 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of the Gaza war 22 months ago. Israel launched its assault after the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas-led militants in which about 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage.
Additional reporting by Michael Savage
