At least 20 Palestinians, including five journalists, were killed on Monday when an Israeli tank fired two shells at the Nasser hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
About 50 other people, including medical staff, were also injured in the attack on southern Gaza’s last functioning hospital. A video clip showed civil defence workers wearing bright orange vests and journalists being hit by the second shell while they were attempting to rescue bodies from the initial strike.
The fatalities included one reporter, Al-Quds News’ Ahmed Abu Aziz, and four photojournalists: Reuters’ Hussam al-Masri, Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Salameh, Al-Quds News’ and freelance photographers Mariam Dagga and Moaz Abu Taha.
At least four medical personnel were also killed.
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Photographer Hatem Khaled, also a Reuters contractor, was wounded.
Nasser hospital director Atef al-Hout accused Israel of targeting the medical centre’s surgical centre. “We were in the middle of surgeries and it happened,” he explained. “Some of them were halted.”
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu expressed regret over the incident.
“Israel deeply regrets the tragic accident. Israel appreciates the work of journalists, medical teams and all civilians,” he said. “The army is conducting a thorough investigation.”
Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson, Brig Gen Effie Defrin, said the military does not intentionally target civilians. “Hamas began this war, and created impossible conditions,” he said.
US president Donald Trump expressed his displeasure when asked for a reaction.
“When did this happen?” he asked a reporter in the White House. “I didn’t know that. Well, I’m not happy about it. I don’t want to see it. At the same time, we have to end that whole nightmare.”
Military sources said the target was a surveillance camera situated on a balcony on the fourth floor of the hospital which soldiers operating in the area suspected was being used by Hamas to observe troop movements.
The second shell was fired as the rescue crews were busy attending to the wounded.
All fire at hospital buildings requires special authorisation from a senior officer and the IDF investigation is examining who gave permission and why less lethal munition, such as a sniper or a small drone, was not used to take out the camera.
A Reuters spokesperson said in a statement: “We are devastated to learn that cameraman Hussam al-Masri, a contractor for Reuters, was killed this morning in Israeli strikes on Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in Gaza. Moaz Abu Taha, a freelance journalist whose work had been occasionally published by Reuters, was also killed, and photographer Hatem Khaled, a Reuters contractor, was wounded.”
“We are urgently seeking more information and have asked authorities in Gaza and Israel to help us get urgent medical assistance for Hatem,” the spokesperson added.
The AP said it was “shocked and saddened” to learn of the deaths of Abu Dagga and other journalists, adding that Abu Dagga had often based herself at the hospital for coverage, which recently included stories on starving and malnourished children.
The Committee to Protect Journalists put the number of journalists killed in the war at 193, accusing Israel of killing journalists in Gaza as “a deliberate and systematic attempt to cover up Israel’s actions”.
In a separate incident on Monday, Nasser Hospital doctors said Israeli gunfire at a tent encampment in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis had killed local journalist Hassan Dohan and had wounded other people.
Two weeks ago, Israel killed prominent Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif and four other journalists in a strike. In that attack, Israel acknowledged targeting Sharif and said he worked for the Hamas militant group, which the broadcaster denied.
Israel has barred all foreign journalists from entering the Gaza Strip since the start of the war in 2023. Reporting from the territory throughout the war has been produced by Palestinian journalists, many of whom have worked for many years for international media organisations, including wire services such as Reuters and the Associated Press.
Israel has also separately said it is investigating the death of Issam Abdallah, a Reuters journalist killed in southern Lebanon by Israeli tank fire in October 2023 after the Gaza conflict erupted. Israel has not announced any findings.
World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the area hit housed the hospital’s emergency department, the inpatient ward and the surgical unit, and that the emergency staircase was damaged.
He added that among those injured were “critically ill patients who were already receiving care”.
“While people in Gaza are being starved, their already limited access to healthcare is being further crippled by repeated attacks” he added.
More than 62,000 people have been killed in Gaza according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The war began with the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7th, 2023 when 1,200 people were killed and 250 kidnapped. - Additional reporting Reuters
