Israel targeted the Nasser Hospital with a ‘double tap’ strike on Monday, killing 20 people [Getty]
The Israeli military on Tuesday claimed its forces were targeting a camera operated by Hamas in two strikes that killed five journalists at a hospital a day earlier, triggering a wave of international condemnation at Tel Aviv’s latest attack on a medical centre.
Israel’s war on Gaza has been one of the deadliest for journalists, with around 200 media workers killed over the course of the nearly two-year Israeli assault, according to press watchdogs.
Monday’s strike in southern Gaza’s Khan Yunis killed at least 20 people, including the five reporters who worked for Al Jazeera, the Associated Press and Reuters, among other outlets.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said an initial Israeli explosive drone hit a building at the hospital, followed by an air strike as the wounded were being evacuated. The bombing, known as a “double tap” strike, hit both the hospital and the rescuers who later came to help the wounded.
The military claimed on Tuesday that the strikes on the medical centre came after its soldiers “identified a camera that was positioned by Hamas in the area of the Nasser Hospital”, adding that they “operated to remove the threat by striking and dismantling the camera”.
Hours after the strike, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed regret over what he called a “tragic mishap”.
Israel has frequently made unsubstantiated claims and produced spurious evidence after its attacks draw international condemnation.
The strike was condemned by a range of voices, including Israel’s traditional allies, as well as the UN, media outlets, rights groups and the Israel-based Foreign Press Association.
Earlier this month, four Al Jazeera staff and two freelancers were killed in an Israeli air strike outside Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
The Israeli military claimed that Anas al-Sharif — a prominent Al Jazeera correspondent killed in the strike — headed a Hamas “terrorist cell” and was “responsible for advancing rocket attacks”, without producing evidence. Israel has deliberately targeted journalists throughout the course of the war and barred foreign reporters from entering the enclave.
Since October 2023, Israel has killed at least 62,819 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Israel’s actions in the enclave are increasingly being recognised as a genocide, with UN experts and rights watchdogs having long come to that conclusion.
