Four journalists, including Al Jazeera photographer Mohammad Salama, are among 19 people killed in an Israeli attack on Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza, according to the enclave’s Ministry of Health.
The ministry said on Monday that the victims were killed on the fourth floor of the hospital in a double-tap strike – one missile hitting first, then another moments later as rescue crews arrived.
Those killed also included Hussam al-Masri, who worked as a photojournalist for the Reuters news agency, Mariam Abu Daqqa, who worked as a journalist with several media outlets, including The Independent Arabic and The Associated Press news agency, and Moaz Abu Taha, who worked for the NBC network, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.
Reuters reported that their live video feed from the hospital, which was operated by cameraman al-Masri, suddenly shut down at the moment of the initial strike.
“The journalist colleagues were martyred when the Israeli occupation committed a horrific crime by bombing a group of journalists who were on a press coverage mission at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis Governorate and many martyrs fell victim to this crime”, Gaza’s media office said in a statement.
“We hold the Israeli occupation, the American administration, and the countries participating in the genocide crime such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and France fully responsible for committing these heinous brutal crimes”.
Salama married another Palestinian journalist, Hala Asfour, last year amidst the ongoing genocidal war.
Abu Daqqa, meanwhile, leaves behind a 12-year-old son, who was evacuated from Gaza earlier on in the war, according to AP editor Abby Sewell.
“She was a true hero, like all of our Palestinian colleagues in Gaza”, Sewell said in a post on X.
The journalists ‘ killings come barely two weeks after renowned Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif was killed along with four of his media colleagues in front of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Israel claimed it targeted Anas, who had become the voice of Gaza for his extensive reporting from the enclave – home to more than two million people.
The attack raises the death toll of Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023 to at least 274, according to an Al Jazeera tally.
In addition to the four journalists killed, Hatem Khaled, a photojournalist working for Reuters is also among those wounded, the agency confirmed. Khaled has extensively documented the war in Gaza for Reuters.
More journalists killed in Gaza than in any other major conflict
Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said Israel has constantly targeted Palestinian journalists throughout the conflict.
“How many times are we going to continue reporting on the killing of our colleagues or the killing of other journalists working with Al Jazeera and other news outlets”? Khoudary asked.
“I’m one of the Palestinian journalists reporting from hospitals. We are in a two-year war where we have been deprived of electricity and internet, so Palestinian journalists are using these services at hospitals to continue reporting”, Khoudary said, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
Palestinian journalists are also using hospitals as a base to report on the deaths of Palestinians who have been injured, malnourished, and other victims, she continued.
No immediate comment was made on the hospital attack, according to the Israeli military and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
During the course of the Gaza War, Mohamed ElMasry, a professor of media studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, claims that Israel has come to realize that it can “pretty much do whatever it wants” without having any negative effects.
According to him, “Israel has learned that it can pretty much do whatever it wants and get away with it” over the past 23 months when he mentioned attacks that targeted and killed paramedics, aid workers, and journalists.
“Israel’s army] only needs to make a statement, either denying it, refuting it, or blaming Hamas,” said Essry. The most recent attack on Nasser Hospital is expected to be addressed by them.
Rights organizations have unwaveringly condemned Israel’s use of Gaza as a media staging area. There, reporters are in greater danger than anywhere else in the world.
No conflict in modern history has resulted in more journalists being killed than the Gaza Strip’s genocide against Palestinians, according to Amnesty International.
Since the start of the war, Israel claims that fighters are operating from inside the hospitals without providing any evidence. Multiple hospitals have been hit or raided across the Strip. Israel’s claims have never been supported by proof.
