Israel hits Gaza hospital, killing at least 20 people, including journalists

Israel struck Nasser hospital in the south of the Gaza Strip on Monday, killing at least 20 people, including five journalists who worked for Reuters, the Associated Press, Al Jazeera and others.

Cameraman Hussam al-Masri, a Reuters contractor, was killed near a live broadcasting position operated by Reuters on an upper floor just below the roof of the hospital in Khan Younis in an initial strike, Palestinian health officials said.

Officials at the hospital and witnesses said Israel then struck the site a second time, killing other journalists as well as rescue workers and medics who had rushed to the scene to help.

The journalists killed included Mariam Abu Dagga, who freelanced for the Associated Press and other outlets, Mohammed Salama, who worked for Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera, Moaz Abu Taha, a freelance journalist who worked with several news organisations including occasionally contributing to Reuters, and Ahmed Abu Aziz.

Photographer Hatem Khaled, also a Reuters contractor, was wounded.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel deeply regretted what he called a "tragic mishap". Israel valued the work of journalists and medical staff, he said, adding that Israel's war was with Hamas.

Israel's military, the Israel Defense Forces, acknowledged striking the area of Nasser hospital and said the chief of the general staff had ordered an inquiry.

The IDF "regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and does not target journalists as such. The IDF acts to mitigate harm to uninvolved individuals as much as possible while maintaining the safety of IDF troops," it said.

US President Donald Trump expressed his displeasure when asked for a reaction.

"When did this happen?" he asked a reporter in the White House. "I didn't know that. Well, I'm not happy about it. I don't want to see it. At the same time, we have to end that whole nightmare."

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian presidency urged the international community, particularly the UN Security Council and the United Nations, to provide protection for journalists and hold Israel accountable.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate condemned Israel for the strikes, saying it represented "an open war against free media, with the aim of terrorising journalists and preventing them from fulfilling their professional duty of exposing its crimes to the world".

The syndicate said more than 240 Palestinian journalists had been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since the war started on October 7, 2023.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, which put the number of journalists and media workers killed since the war began at 197 including 189 Palestinians in Gaza, called for "the international community to hold Israel accountable for its continued unlawful attacks on the press".