Daijiworld Media Network – Gaza

Gaza, Aug 26: At least 20 people, including five journalists working with leading international media houses, were killed in a double Israeli air strike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, on Monday, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The journalists killed were identified as Reuters cameraman Husam al-Masri, AP freelancer Mariam Dagga, Al Jazeera’s Mohammad Salama, Middle East Eye’s Ahmed Abu Aziz, and photographer Moaz Abu Taha. The attacks also claimed the lives of four health workers, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed.

Witness footage captured the second strike hitting rescuers and media personnel who had rushed to the scene after the initial blast. One video showed emergency workers and journalists on a hospital staircase moments before the second strike brought down rubble and smoke, leaving bodies and injured scattered.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the incident a “tragic mishap” and said the military was conducting a “thorough investigation.”

International media outlets expressed grief and shock. Reuters said it was “devastated” by the death of its cameraman, while AP said it was “shocked and saddened” by the loss of Dagga. Al Jazeera and Middle East Eye also confirmed their staff were killed in the attack.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) noted that nearly 200 journalists have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, calling it the deadliest conflict for the press ever recorded. International reporters remain barred from independently entering Gaza, leaving local journalists to bear the brunt of frontline reporting.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the attack, calling for an “immediate and permanent ceasefire” and a “prompt, impartial investigation.” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini warned that silencing journalists meant silencing the world about the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza. UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he was “horrified,” while French President Emmanuel Macron termed the strike “intolerable.”

The attack comes just two weeks after six journalists, including four from Al Jazeera, were killed in another Israeli strike near al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

Meanwhile, Gaza’s health ministry reported that 58 bodies from Israeli strikes had reached hospitals in the past 24 hours, including 28 people killed while seeking food aid. A further 11 deaths, including two children, were linked to malnutrition, raising Gaza’s starvation toll to 300, of whom 117 were children.

Since the October 7 Hamas-led attack that killed around 1,200 people in Israel and saw 251 hostages taken, Israel’s retaliatory offensive has claimed over 62,744 lives in Gaza, according to UN-cited figures.