Israel targets journalists to create Gaza ‘blackout,’ : Photofile Al-Jazeera
Gaza: An Israeli airstrike on Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza has killed at least 21 people, including five journalists and several medics, in what witnesses and medical officials have described as a targeted “double-tap” strike on a facility protected under international law.
The attack, which took place on Monday, is among the deadliest on a medical facility since the start of Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza. It marks a significant escalation in a conflict that has already devastated the region’s healthcare infrastructure and drawn mounting international condemnation.
According to Dr. Ahmed al-Farra, head of the hospital’s pediatrics department, the first missile struck the top floor of a hospital building. Minutes later, as medics and journalists—clearly marked in orange vests—climbed the external staircase to assist victims and document the damage, a second strike hit the same area.
Journalist who died:
Mohammad Salama, a journalist with Al Jazeera
Hussam al-Masri, a Reuters cameraman
Mariam Abu Daqqa, a freelance journalist working for the Associated Press
Ahmed Abu Aziz and Moaz Abu Taha, both local media workers
The attack has thrown the area into chaos. “It has sent the entire area into an absolute sense of panic,” reported Al Jazeera correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum from nearby Deir el-Balah. “Not only for passers-by or people living in the vicinity of the hospital, but for the patients themselves, who are receiving treatment in one of the areas that must be protected under international humanitarian law.”
This strike adds to a pattern of attacks on hospitals, ambulances, and press workers that human rights groups have labeled deliberate and systematic.
Over the course of the nearly two-year war, hundreds of medical staff and journalists have been killed, with Israel facing growing accusations of war crimes and genocide.
