Israeli strikes kill 22, including 5 journalists, in Gaza hospital : NPR

The Palestinians mourn the death of journalists who were killed in an Israeli strike at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. The Gaza Civil Defense Agency said five journalists from at least 20 other people killed in the strike.

Abed Rahim Khatib / Picture Alliance via Getty Images

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Abed Rahim Khatib / Picture Alliance via Getty Images

Publisher’s note: This story contains a graphic image.

Khan Younis, Gaza Strip – Israeli forces killed 22 people, including five journalists, in two consecutive strikes on the largest functional hospital in Gaza, drawing a world conviction and provoking a rare admission of regret by the Israeli government.

The number of deaths was confirmed by the nasser hospital morgue at NPR.

Journalists worked for several international outlets, including the Associated Press, Reuters and the Arabic news channel of Al Jazeera. They were killed by strikes in the open stairwell on the fourth floor of the Nasser Hospital building on Monday morning, where they stood with the first stakeholders and the medical staff.

The first strike took place around 10 a.m. when Hussam Al-Masri, a cameraman for the Reuters news agency, operated a live flow with a view of neighboring Israeli military positions, including tanks, in the devastated city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

A second missile, taken from a reservoir, slammed in the same place a few minutes later, while the rescuers went to Masri, with other journalists photographing and turning the consequences of this initial strike, according to witnesses and images. On the site, another flow of cameras for the Al-Ghad information chain is zooming, capturing the time of the second attack in real time.

A journalist holds the camera covered with blood belonging to the Palestinian photojournalist Mariam Dagga, who was independent for the Associated Press and was killed in an Israeli strike at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the south of Gaza on Monday.

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AFP / Getty images

“Oh my God, the rescuers left. They killed people! They killed them,” shouts the journalist with disbelief on live television.

Other people killed in the attacks by the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis include medical staff, a medical resident and a first speaker, according to the dossier of the morgue.

He marked one of the deadliest days for the Palestinian territory press, where Israeli attacks killed 245 media workers in the last 22 months of the war, according to lists published by Palestinian journalists.

At the beginning of the afternoon, journalist colleagues and dozens of other people gathered to cry their dead colleagues, who were prepared for the burial with their body armor marked “Press” placed on their corpses which were wrapped in white sheets.

“It is a criminal enemy who wants to silence us,” said photojournalist Reuters, Hatem Omar. He was one of several injured journalists during the attack.

Among the people killed was Mariam Dagga, a contributor to the Associated Press.

Independent journalist Mariam Dagga, 33, who worked with the Associated Press and other points of sale during the war in Gaza, posed a portrait in Khan Younis, in the south of Gaza, on June 14, 2024. She was among the journalists killed on Monday at Israeli strikes at Nassers hospital in Khan Younis.

Jehad Alshrafi / AP

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Jehad Alshrafi / AP

His more recently deposited photos have shown emaciated Palestinian children and seriously ill-nourished in Gaza, and a story with her line published earlier this month highlighted the death of a 2-year-old child, Ro’as, who, according to doctors

In the final video of herself shared on Instagram, and published just before her death, the 33-year-old woman stands in front of a mirror deeply breathing in the backdrop of a song on the ascent in paradise. She looks emaciated and pale – an overview of famine and exhaustion journalists and other Palestinians Faced with Gaza.

The AD says that Dagga evacuated his 13 -year -old Gaza son at the start of the war, and had not seen him since. The news agency said it was “shocked and saddened to learn” from its death. Reuters said in a statement that he was “devastated” to learn the death of Al-Masri, as well as that of another journalist, Moaz Abu Taha, who had sometimes worked for the News wire. He said that he “urgently sought more information” as well as medical assistance for Hatem Khaled, another entrepreneur of Reuters injured in the same attack.

Al Jazeera said that the cameraman Mohammad Salama was the 10th of his journalists to be killed by Israel in Gaza in this war, Call the attack a “atrocity”. He said that “condemns, in the strongest possible terms, this horrible crime”. The point of sale said that the blood had not yet dried up in an attack only two weeks ago which killed six journalists, including five with Al Jazeera, including the most important and most famous journalist in Gaza, Anas Al-Sharif in a targeted Israeli air strike.

In a letter to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the best army brass, Reuters and AP expressed their “indignation” and demanded a rapid and transparent investigation.

“We are indignant that independent journalists were among the victims of this strike at the hospital, a place protected by international law,” said the letter.

But they have raised doubts about how Israel is investigating military actions. “We found the [Israeli military’s] The desire and the ability to inquire about the incidents to rarely lead to clarity and action, raising serious questions, especially if Israel deliberately targets live flows in order to delete information, “said the letter.

The committee to protect journalists condemned the attack. “The murder broadcast by Israel of journalists in Gaza continues while the world is watching and does not firmly reach the most horrible attacks that the press has ever encountered in recent history,” said CPJ regional director Sara Qudah.

Foreign Press Association in Israel and occupied Palestinian territories, who represent hundreds of journalists, including NPR journalists, said that the attack should mark a moment of watersheds while Israel continues to block independent access to Gaza to foreign journalists And kills journalists in Gaza without justification.

“We invite Israel once and for all to stop his odious practice to target journalists,” said a press release from the association.

In the hours following the incident, the Israeli army had recognized the attack, but late Monday had not yet identified a specific target. “The FDIs do not intentionally target civilians,” said Israeli military spokesman Brig. General Effie Defrin said in a video declaration on social networks, using the initials of the Israeli army. “We regret any harm to uninvited individuals.”

The office of the Israeli Prime Minister published a statement saying that Israel “deeply regrets the tragic misadventure” at the hospital, adding that he “values ​​the work of journalists, medical staff and all civilians”. The declaration did not offer any other details on the responsibility that there may be for the murder of 22 people in the attack.

Anas Baba reported Khan Younis, Gaza and Aya Batrawy from Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.