DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (news agencies) — 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 media.
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.
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 news agencies on doctors struggling to save children from starvation.
The news agencies 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.
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.”
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