Israeli forces killed five Palestinian journalists on Monday in an airstrike on one of the few hospitals remaining in Gaza — an attack carried out despite increasing global condemnation of Israel’s targeting of Palestinian journalists and its ongoing ban on international media from entering the territory.
The Israeli attack on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis killed at least 20 Palestinians and injured dozens more, including rescuers and medical staff, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The military carried out what’s called a double-tap strike: the first missile hit the hospital’s roof and killed a Reuters journalist during his livestream, followed by a second missile that hit first responders and reporters responding to the initial one.
The four journalists who were initially killed while reporting from Nasser are Hussam al-Masri (Reuters), Maryam Abu Daqqa (Associated Press), Moaz Abu Taha (Reuters) and Mohammad Salama (Al Jazeera). The fifth, Ahmed Abu Aziz (Middle East Eye) died from wounds sustained in the attack. A sixth journalist, Hassan Douhan, was killed by Israeli forces on Monday in a separate incident within Khan Younis.
“Palestinian journalists right now are crying. If I show you my colleagues that are sitting, between the reporting and between their live shifts, they’re trying to hold their tears,” Al Jazeera correspondent Hind Khoudary said from Gaza. “They’re trying to find the words to describe what’s going on. Our colleagues were killed live on-air, and there’s no way there are any words to describe what’s happening. Every single day we’re mourning people.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday called the attack a “tragic mishap” and said the Israeli government “values” the work of journalists, medical staff and civilians. The statement contradicts the prime minister’s baseless accusations that Palestinian journalists are actually members of Hamas, and ignores the reality that Israeli forces have, according to the UN, killed at least 240 media workers in Gaza since October 2023.
The Israeli Defense Forces separately said that authorities are investigating the bombing, though the military has a reputation of rarely holding Israeli perpetrators accountable. IDF spokesperson BG Effie Defrin repeated the unsubstantiated claim that Hamas militants operate in hospitals like Nasser, which the IDF has targeted multiple times over the past two years. But even if militants were found to be inside a hospital, Israel would still violate international law by bombing the institution.
“I’m not happy about it. I don’t want to see it,” President Donald Trump said when asked about the attack. “But at the same time, we have to end that whole nightmare.”
Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images
Israel is already facing anger and condemnation from the United Nations, rights groups and multiple governments for the hospital airstrike and the killing of more journalists, with some voices calling for sanctions against Israel. The military bombed a media tent near Al-Shifa Hospital just two weeks earlier, killing high-profile Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif and his four colleagues.
“The blood of our martyred journalists in Gaza has not yet dried before the Israeli occupation forces committed another crime against” journalists, Al Jazeera said.
Because Israel continues to block access to Gaza for foreign media — unless they agree to a rare IDF-led guided tour — international outlets have heavily relied on Palestinian civilians’ and journalists’ on-the-ground coverage. Press freedom groups have warned that attacks on journalists could result in Gaza experiencing a media blackout while Israel escalates its campaign of violence.
“For the past 22 months, we have watched as healthcare facilities have been leveled, journalists silenced and healthcare workers buried beneath the rubble by the Israeli forces,” Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said. “As Israel continues to shun international law, the only witnesses of their genocidal campaign are deliberately being targeted. It must stop now.”
