DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel struck one of the main hospitals in the Gaza Strip on Monday and then hit the facility again as journalists and rescue workers rushed to the scene, killing at least 20 people and wounding scores more, local health workers said.
It was among the deadliest of multiple Israeli strikes that have hit both hospitals and journalists over the course of the 22-month war. The assault came as Israel plans to widen its offensive to heavily populated areas, vowing to destroy Hamas after its Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
Among the dead were five journalists, including 33-year-old Mariam Dagga, a visual journalist who worked for The Associated Press.
The Reuters news agency said one of its reporters was killed in the initial strike as he operated a live television shot on an upper floor of Khan Younis’ Nasser Hospital. Other journalists, including Dagga, and rescue workers wearing orange emergency vests then raced up an external stairwell to reach the site, only to be hit by the second strike.
Video shot from below by pan-Arab channel Al Ghad showed their last moments as they climbed the stairs past damaged walls, followed by a boom and a huge plume of smoke from the strike.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office called the strike a “tragic mishap” and said the military was investigating. He did not elaborate on the nature of the mistake.
Israeli media reported that troops fired two artillery shells, targeting what they suspected was a Hamas surveillance camera on the roof. Reporters from different outlets had regularly set up live TV shots at that location.
AP freelancer among 5 journalists killed
The five journalists killed included journalists working for Al Jazeera, Reuters and Middle East Eye, a U.K.-based media outlet, most on a contractor or freelance basis.
Dagga regularly reported for multiple outlets from the hospital, including a recent story for the AP on doctors struggling to save children from starvation.
The AP and Reuters demanded an explanation in a joint letter to Israeli authorities.
“We are outraged that independent journalists were among the victims of this strike on the hospital, a location that is protected under international law,” it said. “These journalists were present in their professional capacity, doing critical work bearing witness.”
They also noted that Israel has barred international journalists from entering Gaza since the start of the war, outside of visits organized by the military.
Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the records department at the Gaza Health Ministry, said the initial strike hit an upper floor housing operating rooms and doctors’ residences, killing at least two people. The second strike, hitting the stairwell, killed another 18. Around 80 people were wounded, including many in the hospital’s courtyard, al-Waheidi said.
Israel says it is investigating
Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, an Israeli military spokesman, said the army does not target civilians and had launched an internal investigation into the strikes. He accused Hamas of hiding among civilians but did not say whether Israel believed any militants were present during the strikes on the hospital.
Netanyahu’s statement said: “Israel deeply regrets the tragic mishap that occurred today at the Nasser Hospital in Gaza. Israel values the work of journalists, medical staff, and all civilians.”
Israel has killed 189 Palestinian journalists during its campaign in Gaza, including some who were directly targeted and others who were killed among other strike casualties, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. More than 1,500 health workers have been killed, according to the U.N.
Israel’s “killing of journalists in Gaza continues while the world watches and fails to act firmly on the most horrific attacks the press has ever faced in recent history,” said Sara Qudah, CPJ regional director.
The Foreign Press Association, which represents international media in Israel and the Palestinian territories, called on Israel “to halt its abhorrent practice of targeting journalists.”
The U.N. secretary-general, along with Britain, France and others, condemned the attack. When asked about the strike, U.S. President Donald Trump initially said he was not aware of it before offering: “I’m not happy about it. I don’t want to see it.”
Trump later said he thought there might be a “conclusive ending” in Gaza in the coming weeks, without elaborating. It was not clear if he was referring to Israel’s coming offensive or to long-running ceasefire talks.
A doctor describes ‘chaos, disbelief and fear’
Israel has attacked hospitals multiple times throughout the war, asserting that Hamas embeds itself in and around the facilities, though Israeli officials rarely provide evidence. Hamas security personnel have been seen inside such facilities during the war, and parts of those sites have been off limits to the public.
The hospitals that remain open have been overwhelmed by the dead, wounded and now by increasing numbers of malnourished as parts of Gaza are experiencing famine.
A British doctor working on the floor that was hit said the second strike came before people could start evacuating from the first.
“Just absolute scenes of chaos, disbelief and fear,” the doctor said, describing people leaving trails of blood as they entered the ward. The hospital was already overwhelmed, with patients with IV drips lying on the floor in the corridors in stifling heat.
The doctor spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations from their organization to avoid reprisals from Israeli authorities.
“It leaves me in another state of shock that hospitals can be a target,” the doctor said.
Nasser Hospital has withstood raids and bombardment during the war. , with officials repeatedly noting critical shortages of supplies and staff.
A June strike on the hospital killed three people, according to the Health Ministry. The military said at the time that it targeted a Hamas command and control center. A March strike on its surgical unit days after Israel ended a ceasefire killed a Hamas official and a 16-year-old boy.
More Palestinians killed while seeking aid
Al-Awda Hospital said Israeli gunfire killed six aid-seekers trying to reach a distribution point in central Gaza and wounded another 15.
The shootings were the latest in the Netzarim Corridor, a military zone where U.N. convoys have been overrun by looters and desperate crowds, and where people have been shot and killed while heading to sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed American contractor.
The GHF denied that any shootings had occurred near its site. The Israeli military said it was not aware of any casualties from Israeli fire in that area.
Al-Awda said two Israeli strikes in central Gaza killed six Palestinians, including a child. Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said three Palestinians, including a child, were killed in a strike there.
The Health Ministry said Sunday that at least 62,686 Palestinians have been killed in the war. It does not distinguish between fighters and civilians but says around half have been women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.
The war began when Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the 2023 attack. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals, but 50 remain in Gaza, with around 20 believed to be alive.
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This story has been corrected to note that Israel has provided some evidence of militants operating in and around some of the hospitals it has raided. One misspelling of the journalist's name Dagga also has been corrected.
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Magdy reported from Cairo, and Metz reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
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