An Israeli airstrike killed five Palestinian journalists outside a hospital in the Gaza Strip overnight, the Health Ministry said early Thursday. According to the Israeli military, all five were militants posing as reporters.
The attack hit a car in front of Al-Awda Hospital in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The journalists worked for local news agency Al-Quds Today, a television channel linked to the militant group Islamic Jihad.
The Iran-backed Islamic Jihad is a smaller and more extreme ally of Hamas and took part in its attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
The Israeli military identified four of the men as combat propagandists and said intelligence, including a list of Islamic Jihad militants found by soldiers in Gaza, had confirmed that all five were linked to the group.
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian militant groups engage in political, media and charitable operations in addition to their armed wings.
Medics said the five were among at least 21 people killed in Israeli air strikes on the Palestinian enclave before dawn, as Hamas and Israel exchanged blame for delays in reaching a ceasefire deal after more than 14 months of fighting.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, over 130 Palestinian reporters have been killed since the war began. Israel has not allowed foreign reporters to enter Gaza, except at military bases.
The Gaza-based broadcaster called the attack a massacre and said in a statement on the messaging app Telegram that the five were “killed while carrying out their media and humanitarian duty.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it “carried out a targeted attack on a vehicle carrying an Islamic Jihad terrorist cell in the Nuseirat area.”
Israel has regularly denied attacks on journalists and said it was taking measures to avoid attacks on civilians.
Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 45,300 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-controlled enclave. Most of the 2.3 million residents have been displaced and much of the Gaza Strip lies in ruins.
The war was triggered by the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which, according to Israeli information, 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage to Gaza.
The death toll could rise, doctors say
Video from the scene of Thursday’s attack showed the twisted wreckage of a white van with what appeared to be remnants of the word “PRESS” in red on its back doors.
Later Thursday, dozens of relatives and fellow journalists attended the funeral of the five journalists, whose bodies were draped in white shrouds. Blue protective vests with the inscription “PRESS” were placed over the bodies.
“The Israeli army justifies or excuses these attacks by claiming that they are directed against people involved in Palestinian organizations and cells. However, on site, these people were on journalistic assignments, staying in press vehicles and reporting on events,” said Abed Meqdad, a correspondent for Al-Araby television during the funerals.
Women wept next to the corpses while men offered special prayers before burials.
“May God take revenge on them, may God take revenge on them. He is the one who spreads the news and spreads the crimes to the world, that is what they do to them,” said the mother of Fadi Hassouna, one of the dead journalists.
Medics in the enclave said eight more people were killed and 20 injured in an Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza City’s Zeitoun district. The death toll could rise as many people were trapped under the rubble, they added.
In Gaza City, an Israeli attack on a house in the Sabra suburb killed eight more people, medics said, bringing the death toll to 21 on Thursday.
Israel and Hamas exchange blame over delayed ceasefire
On Wednesday, Hamas and Israel exchanged blame for failing to reach a ceasefire deal, despite both sides reporting progress in recent days.
Hamas said Israel had set further conditions, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the group of deviating from agreements already reached.
“The occupation has set new conditions regarding withdrawal, ceasefire, prisoners and the return of the displaced, which has delayed the achievement of the available agreement,” Hamas said.
Netanyahu responded in a statement: “The terrorist organization Hamas continues to lie, violate agreements already reached and continue to cause difficulties in negotiations.”
