Gaza medics say Israeli strike kills 5 journalists; Israel says it hit militants
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The Palestinian Journalists Union said a strike killed five journalists from the Al-Quds Today channel who were in a broadcast vehicle.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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CAIRO – Gaza authorities said an Israeli air strike killed five Palestinian journalists in a vehicle outside a hospital on Dec 26, but the Israeli army said the victims were Islamic Jihad militants posing as media workers.
Medics said the five were among at least 26 people killed in Israeli air assaults across the Palestinian enclave before dawn, as Hamas and Israel traded blame over delays in reaching a ceasefire deal after more than 14 months of fighting.
The Palestinian Journalists Union said one strike killed five journalists from the Al-Quds Today channel who were in a broadcast vehicle in front of the Al-Awda Hospital in the Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
The union said more than 190 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israeli fire since the war began in October 2023.
The Gaza-based channel called the strike a massacre and said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that the five “were killed as they carried out their media and humanitarian duty”.
The Israeli military said it “conducted a precise strike on a vehicle with an Islamic Jihad terrorist cell inside in the area of Nuseirat”.
Later, it issued a statement listing the names of the five TV crewmen and said: “Intelligence from multiple sources confirmed that these individuals were Islamic Jihad operatives posing as journalists.”
Israel has regularly denied targeting journalists and says it takes steps to avoid hitting civilians.
The Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad group – an ally of Hamas – fought several rounds against Israel in the past two decades, and fighters of the group have joined the fighting against Israel since October 2023. It said it has hostages in its custody too.
The group condemned Israel’s killing of the five men in a statement, but it did not claim any of them as a member.
Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed more than 45,300 Palestinians. Most of the population of 2.3 million has been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins.
The war was triggered by Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023,
A woman crying during the funeral for journalists killed in an Israeli air strike at the Al-Awda Hospital on Dec 26.
PHOTO: AFP
Video from the scene of the attack showed the twisted wreckage of a white van with what appeared to be the remnants of the word “Press” in red on the back doors.
Later on Dec 26, dozens of relatives and fellow journalists took part in the funerals of the five journalists, whose bodies were wrapped in white shrouds. Blue flak jackets bearing the word “Press” were placed on top of the shrouded bodies.
“The Israeli army justifies or excuses this targeting by claiming it is aimed at individuals involved in Palestinian organisations and cells. However, on the ground, these individuals were on journalistic assignments, residing in press vehicles and covering events,” said Mr Abed Meqdad, a correspondent for Al-Araby TV channel during the funerals.
Women wept besides the bodies as men performed special prayers before burials.
“May God take revenge on them, may God take revenge on them. He’s the one that makes the news and broadcasts the crimes to the world, this is what they do to them,” said the mother of Mr Fadi Hassouna, one of the dead journalists.
In its end-of-year report, the Reporters Without Borders organisation said Gaza was the world’s most dangerous region for journalists due to killings by the Israeli army.
Medics in the enclave said 13 other people were killed and 25 wounded in an Israeli air strike on a house in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood. The death toll could rise as many people were still trapped under the rubble, they added.
In Gaza City, an Israeli strike on a house in the suburb of Sabra killed eight more people, medics said, bringing the death toll to 26 on Dec 26.
On Dec 25, the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel traded blame
Hamas said Israel laid down further conditions, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the group of going back on understandings already reached.
“The occupation has set new conditions related to withdrawal, ceasefire, prisoners and the return of the displaced, which has delayed reaching the agreement that was available,” Hamas said.
Mr Netanyahu responded in a statement: “The Hamas terrorist organisation continues to lie, is reneging on understandings that have already been reached and is continuing to create difficulties in the negotiations.” REUTERS
