Israel carried out back-to-back strikes on the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis separated by only a matter of minutes, the ministry said. The “double-tap” hits killed journalists, health workers and emergency response crews who had rushed to the scene after the initial attack, the Nasser Hospital said .Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later conceded that journalists and first responders had been killed, referring to their deaths as a “tragic mishap.”The Israeli attacks hit a balcony on the hospital used by reporters for an elevated view of Khan Younis. A first strike on the hospital hit the fourth floor of Nasser Medical Complex, the health ministry said, followed by a second attack a short time later that hit ambulance crews and emergency responders.A live camera from Al Ghad TV shows emergency workers on a damaged staircase at the hospital when the second attack hits the building.IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the military was “aware of reports that harm was caused to civilians, including journalists .
An Israeli security official with knowledge of the details of that initial inquiry said IDF forces identified a camera on the roof of the hospital that they claimed was being used by Hamas to monitor the Israeli military.
The forces received authorization to strike the camera with a drone, the source said. But instead, Israeli forces fired two tank shells: the first at the camera and the second at rescue forces.
The details of the inquiry are a remarkable admission from an Israeli official that it intentionally targeted the first responders that arrived at the scene after the initial strike. In a separate attack on Monday, another journalist, Hassan Douhan, was killed by Israeli forces in Khan Younis, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, who said he “was shot by the occupation forces in his tent.”
Jodie Ginsberg, the CPJ president, accused Israel of deliberately targeting a Reuters camera position. “First responders moved in, including journalists, and they were killed in the second attack,” she said in an interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson.
Journalist organizations and international bodies reacted to the deaths with shock and anger.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), before Monday Israel had killed 192 journalists since the start of the war in Gaza.
The Foreign Press Association in Israel and the Palestinian Territories described the strikes as “among the deadliest Israeli attacks on journalists working for international media since the Gaza war began.”
“This has gone on far too long. Too many journalists in Gaza have been killed by Israel without justification. Israel continues to block international journalists from independent access to Gaza,”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the killings of the journalists and medical workers The UN chief also called for an impartial investigation into the killings.Countries including Canada, the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait also condemned the strikes.
An Israeli security official with knowledge of the details of that initial inquiry said IDF forces identified a camera on the roof of the hospital that they claimed was being used by Hamas to monitor the Israeli military.
The forces received authorization to strike the camera with a drone, the source said. But instead, Israeli forces fired two tank shells: the first at the camera and the second at rescue forces.
The details of the inquiry are a remarkable admission from an Israeli official that it intentionally targeted the first responders that arrived at the scene after the initial strike. In a separate attack on Monday, another journalist, Hassan Douhan, was killed by Israeli forces in Khan Younis, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, who said he “was shot by the occupation forces in his tent.”
Jodie Ginsberg, the CPJ president, accused Israel of deliberately targeting a Reuters camera position. “First responders moved in, including journalists, and they were killed in the second attack,” she said in an interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson.
Journalist organizations and international bodies reacted to the deaths with shock and anger.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), before Monday Israel had killed 192 journalists since the start of the war in Gaza.
The Foreign Press Association in Israel and the Palestinian Territories described the strikes as “among the deadliest Israeli attacks on journalists working for international media since the Gaza war began.”
“This has gone on far too long. Too many journalists in Gaza have been killed by Israel without justification. Israel continues to block international journalists from independent access to Gaza,”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the killings of the journalists and medical workers The UN chief also called for an impartial investigation into the killings.Countries including Canada, the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait also condemned the strikes.