At least 20 people, including five journalists working for the international media, have been killed in an Israeli strike on Nasser hospital in the southern Gaza Strip, the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry says.
Four of the journalists worked for Reuters, AP, Al Jazeera and the Middle East Eye, the news outlets confirmed.
Footage of the attack shows a second strike, after the initial hit, which happened as rescuers attended the scene.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says an investigation is being carried out into its attack on the hospital.
It added that it “does not target journalists as such”, but did not give details about the strike.
The latest deaths brings the number of journalists killed in Gaza since the start of the war there in October 2023 to nearly 200.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a leading body which promotes press freedom, the war in Gaza has been the deadliest conflict for journalists ever documented. It says more press members have been killed there in the past two years than were killed worldwide in the prior three years.
International journalists have been banned by Israel from entering the Gaza Strip independently since the start of the war.
Some journalists have been taken into Gaza by the IDF under controlled access, but international media outlets rely on local reporters for much of their coverage in Gaza.
Video from the scene of Monday’s attack shows a doctor standing at an entrance to the hospital – the main one in southern Gaza – holding up bloodied clothes to show journalists following the first strike. Suddenly there is a blast, sending people running for cover as glass shatters. A man injured by the blast is seen trying to drag himself to safety.
Another graphic video, captured on a livestream by al-Ghad TV, shows several emergency workers responding to the first strike near the top floor of Nasser hospital as a number of journalists in the background capture the scene.
A staircase, where journalists often gather to get views across Khan Younis, is visible in the footage. A strike then directly hits the emergency workers and journalists, sending smoke and rubble in the air. At least one body is visible in the aftermath.
Reuters news agency said its cameraman, Husam al-Masri, was among those killed. He had been operating a live TV feed on the roof and it shut down at the instant of the initial strike. Hatem Khaled, another contractor also working for Reuters as a photographer, was injured in the second strike, according to witnesses.
The agency said it was devastated and “urgently seeking more information”.
AP said Mariam Dagga, a freelance journalist working for it, was also killed. The news agency said it was “shocked and saddened” by the 33-year-old’s death.
The others killed include Al Jazeera’s Mohammad Salama, Middle East Eye freelancer Ahmed Abu Aziz and photographer Moaz Abu Taha. US TV network NBC said Taha did not work for it, as had been initially reported.
The Hamas-run Civil Defence said one of its members was among those killed, AFP news agency reported.
The head of the World Health Organization said four health workers were also killed, and condemned the strike.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the area that was hit houses the hospital’s emergency department, the inpatient ward and the surgical unit – in addition to the emergency staircase which had also been damaged.
A programme officer for British-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians says she was visiting the ICU “when explosions tore through the operating theatre right next to us”.
In a statement sent to media, Hadil Abu Zaid described “trails of blood” over the floor following the strikes, adding the scene was “unbearable”.
Monday’s attack comes two weeks after six journalists, including four from Al Jazeera, were killed in an Israeli targeted attack near al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
The UN’s human rights office condemned that attack, calling it a grave breach of international law.
The IDF said it had targeted Anas al-Sharif, a prominent Al Jazeera reporter, alleging he had “served as the head of a terrorist cell in Hamas”.
The CPJ said Israel had failed to provide evidence to back up its allegations.
The war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken to Gaza as hostages.
Israel responded with a massive military offensive, which has killed more than 62,686 Palestinians, according to figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which the UN considers reliable.
