Five Gaza journalists killed in Israeli strike targeting armed group
A Palestinian television channel said five of its journalists were killed in an Israeli attack in the central Gaza Strip.
They were traveling in a Quds Today van parked outside Al-Auda hospital in the middle of the Nuseirat refugee camp, where the wife of one of the reporters was about to give birth.
The channel posted a video of what it said was a burning vehicle with a “News” sign on the back door.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they were targeting “Islamic jihadists posing as journalists” and had taken steps to avoid harming civilians.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it was “appalled by these reports”.
“Journalists are civilians and must always be protected,” the statement said.
The BBC was unable to verify claims from either side, and Israel prevents international media from entering Gaza and working freely there.
Al-Quds Today is affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), an armed group that participated in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. This unprecedented attack triggered the Gaza War. The TV channel is believed to have received funding from the organization.
The Israeli military named the five victims as Ibrahim Jamal Ibrahim Sheikh Ali; Faisal Abdullah Muhammad Abu Kamsan; Muhammad Aya De Khamis Rada; Ayman Nihad Abdul Rahman al-Jadi; and Fadi Ihab Mohammed Ramadan Hassouna.
“Intelligence from multiple sources confirmed” that all were PIJ agents, and a list discovered during the Gaza operation “unequivocally identified four of them,” the statement said.
Al-Quds Today said in a statement that the men were “killed while carrying out their media and humanitarian duties.”
As of December 20, at least 133 Palestinian journalists had been killed over the course of the war, making it the deadliest conflict for journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Press freedom groups have called for Palestinian journalists directly targeted by the Israeli military to be held accountable.
It was also reported that the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital on the northern edge of Gaza said that five staff at the hospital were killed in the Israeli attack. These include a pediatrician and two nursing staff.
An Israeli attack on Gaza City on Wednesday also reportedly killed at least five people.
The Palestinian Wafa news agency and Hamas-controlled Gaza’s health ministry also said 20 other people were injured in the city’s al-Zeitoun neighborhood.
The Israeli military has yet to comment on the reported bombings.
Meanwhile, the father of a two-week-old Palestinian girl told the BBC how his little girl froze to death in a tent in Gaza, the third child to die in similar circumstances in a week.
Mahmoud Ismail Al-Faseeh said he woke up in the freezing cold and found his daughter Sirah convulsing. She was rushed to the hospital but died of hypothermia, the head of pediatrics at Khan Younis Nasser Hospital told The Associated Press.
The family took refuge in the Mawasi area on the Gaza coast, an area designated a humanitarian zone by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), but came under airstrikes.
Two other babies – one three days old and the other one month old – died of hypothermia in the past 48 hours, said director of pediatrics Ahmed al-Farra.
Hopes for progress on a ceasefire have begun to fade in recent days, with Hamas and Israel blaming each other.
Hamas accused the Israeli government of imposing “new conditions” which it said had delayed the deal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the group had violated an understanding already agreed on a possible ceasefire.
The latest statements mark a significant change in tone after both sides sent optimistic signals.
The Israeli military launched airstrikes and ground offensives in the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas attacks last year. Some 1,200 people were killed in the attack and 251 were taken back to Gaza as hostages.
Gaza’s health ministry says more than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive. According to the United Nations, nearly 2 million people, or 90% of the population, have been displaced.
Additional reporting by Jaroslav Lukiv.
