Palestinians mourn the demise of journalists who have been killed in an Israeli strike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Gaza’s civil protection company stated 5 journalists amongst a minimum of 20 different folks killed within the strike.
Abed Rahim Khatib/image alliance by way of Getty Photos
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Abed Rahim Khatib/image alliance by way of Getty Photos
Editor’s be aware: This story incorporates a graphic picture.
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Israeli forces killed 22 folks, together with 5 journalists, in two consecutive strikes on Gaza’s largest functioning hospital, drawing international condemnation and prompting a uncommon admission of remorse by the Israeli authorities.
The demise toll from the strikes was confirmed by Nasser Hospital’s morgue to NPR.
The journalists labored for a number of worldwide shops, together with The Related Press, Reuters and Al Jazeera’s Arabic information channel. They have been killed by strikes on the fourth ground open stairwell of the Nasser Hospital constructing Monday morning, the place they have been standing together with first responders and medical workers.
The primary strike happened round 10 a.m. when Hussam al-Masri, a cameraman for the Reuters information company, was working a reside feed with a chicken’s-eye view of close by Israeli navy positions, together with tanks, within the devastated metropolis of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
A second missile, fired from a tank, slammed into the identical spot simply minutes later, as rescue employees raced to Masri, with different journalists photographing and filming the aftermath of that preliminary strike, based on witnesses and photographs. On the website, one other digicam feed for Al-Ghad information channel zoomed in, capturing the second of the second assault in actual time.
A journalist holds the blood-covered digicam belonging to Palestinian photojournalist Mariam Dagga, who freelanced for The Related Press and was killed in an Israeli strike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, within the southern Gaza Strip, Monday.
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AFP/Getty Photos
“Oh God, the rescuers are gone. They killed the folks! They killed them,” the reporter yells in disbelief on reside tv.
Different folks killed within the assaults at Nasser Medical Advanced in Khan Younis embody medical workers, a medical resident and a primary responder, based on morgue data.
It marked one of many deadliest days for the press within the Palestinian territory, the place Israeli assaults have killed 245 media employees prior to now 22 months of the conflict, based on lists revealed by Palestinian journalists.
By early afternoon, fellow journalists and dozens of different folks had gathered to mourn their lifeless colleagues, who have been ready for burial with their physique armor marked “PRESS” positioned on high of their corpses that have been wrapped in white sheets.
“It is a prison enemy that wishes to silence us,” Reuters photojournalist, Hatem Omar, stated. He was amongst a number of journalists wounded within the assault.
Amongst these killed was Mariam Dagga, a contributor with The Related Press.
Freelance journalist Mariam Dagga, 33, who had been working with The Related Press and different shops throughout the conflict in Gaza, poses for a portrait in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on June 14, 2024. She was among the many journalists killed Monday in Israeli strikes on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
Jehad Alshrafi/AP
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Jehad Alshrafi/AP
Her most lately filed AP photographs confirmed emaciated, severely malnourished Palestinian kids in Gaza, and a story together with her byline revealed earlier this month highlighted the demise of a 2-year-old youngster, Ro’a Mashi, who medical doctors stated had “wasted away over months as her household struggled to search out meals and therapy.”
Within the closing video of herself shared on Instagram, and posted simply earlier than her demise, the 33-year-old stands in entrance of a mirror taking deep breaths to the backdrop of a track about ascending to heaven. She appears to be like gaunt and pale — a glimpse of the hunger and exhaustion journalists and different Palestinians face in Gaza.
The AP says Dagga evacuated her 13-year-old son out of Gaza early within the conflict, and hadn’t seen him since. The information company stated it was “shocked and saddened to be taught” of her demise. Reuters stated in a press release it was “devastated” to find out about al-Masri’s demise, in addition to that of one other journalist, Moaz Abu Taha, who had sometimes labored for the information wire. It stated it was “urgently in search of extra data” in addition to medical help for Hatem Khaled, one other Reuters contractor wounded in the identical assault.
Al Jazeera stated cameraman Mohammad Salama was the tenth of its journalists to be killed by Israel in Gaza on this conflict, calling the assault an “atrocity.” It stated it “condemns, within the strongest attainable phrases, this horrific crime.” The outlet stated the blood had not but dried on an assault simply two weeks in the past that killed six journalists, 5 of them with Al Jazeera, together with Gaza’s most outstanding and well-known reporter, Anas al-Sharif in a focused Israeli airstrike.
In a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the navy’s high brass, Reuters and AP expressed their “outrage” and demanded a swift and clear investigation.
“We’re outraged that unbiased journalists have been among the many victims of this strike on the hospital, a location that’s protected underneath worldwide legislation,” the letter stated.
However they raised doubts about how Israel investigates navy actions. “Now we have discovered the [Israeli military’s] willingness and skill to analyze itself in previous incidents to hardly ever end in readability and motion, elevating severe questions together with whether or not Israel is intentionally focusing on reside feeds in an effort to suppress data,” the letter stated.
The Committee to Shield Journalists condemned the assault. “Israel’s broadcasted killing of journalists in Gaza continues whereas the world watches and fails to behave firmly on essentially the most horrific assaults the press has ever confronted in current historical past,” CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah stated.
The International Press Affiliation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, which represents a whole lot of journalists together with NPR reporters, stated the assault ought to mark a watershed second as Israel continues to dam unbiased entry to Gaza to international journalists and kills journalists in Gaza with out justification.
“We name on Israel as soon as and for all to halt its abhorrent apply of focusing on journalists,” stated a press release from the affiliation.
Inside hours of the incident, the Israeli navy had acknowledged the assault, however by late Monday had not but recognized any particular goal. “The IDF doesn’t deliberately goal civilians,” Israeli navy spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin stated in a video assertion on social media, utilizing the initials for the Israeli navy. “We remorse any hurt to uninvolved people.”
The workplace of Israel’s prime minister issued a press release saying Israel “deeply regrets the tragic mishap” on the hospital, including that it “values the work of journalists, medical workers, and all civilians.” The assertion supplied no additional particulars on what accountability there is perhaps for the killing of twenty-two folks within the assault.
Anas Baba reported from Khan Younis, Gaza, and Aya Batrawy from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
