Israel’s justification for Gaza hospital attack false, Reuters probe finds

According to a report from Reuters, Israel’s claim that it bombed a Khan Younis hospital in southern Gaza was false when it claimed it did so in front of a Hamas camera is false.

A military official claimed that Israeli forces used drone footage that showed a Hamas camera as the target of the August 25 attack on Nasser Hospital to plan the attack. However, a Reuters investigation of witness interviews and visual evidence revealed that one of the news agency’s own journalists had long used the camera.

Five journalists were among the 22 victims of the “double-tap” attack, one of whom worked for Al Jazeera. Since the genocidal war broke out nearly two years ago, there have been more than 200 journalists killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza as a result of their deaths.

A day after the hospital attack, the army claimed troops had shot on a “suspicious” camera that had been operated by Hamas. Later, drone footage revealed the drone’s installation on a hospital stairwell, which was covered with a prayer rug from Reuters’ reporter Hussam al-Masri, who was killed in the attack, not Hamas, according to Reuters.

Since May, al-Masri has positioned his camera on the same stairwell to record live broadcasts that have been broadcast around the world at least 35 times. He frequently used the rug to shield it from heat and dust.

Ismail al-Thawabta, the head of Gaza’s Government Media Office, alleged that Hamas was filming Israeli forces from Nasser Hospital was fabricated and false. Israel is attempting to cover up a full-fledged war crime committed against the hospital, its patients, and the medical staff.

In order to reconstruct the events of the attack, Reuters said it interviewed more than 20 people, reviewed more than 100 videos, and recorded more than 100 interviews.

Before the strike, Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem described the stairwell as a “makeshift newsroom” where journalists had gathered. Moments prior to the explosion, which claimed the lives of Al-Masri and several other civil defense workers, froze Al-Masri’s live broadcast. As rescuers rushed in, a second explosion occurred.

When a massive explosion occurred while we were rescuing the martyrs and the wounded, according to Reuters cameraman Hatem Khaled.

Israel has repeatedly targeted hospitals, churches, shelters, mosques, and other locations that are protected by international humanitarian law. Journalists, medical professionals, first responders, and humanitarian workers have also been killed in the attacks. Israel continues to carry out a genocide in Gaza despite numerous international calls for an investigation.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Israel has never released the findings of a formal investigation or held anyone accountable for journalist murder.