Three journalists among five killed in Israeli strike on Gaza hospital

BBC:

Five people have been killed in an Israeli strike on al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, according to the Anglican Church, which operates it.

The Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem said three journalists, a father escorting his son to surgery, and another person died on Thursday morning when the hospital’s compound was hit.

It condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the attack, which also injured 30 bystanders, including four hospital staff. The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate accused Israel of a “full-fledged war crime”.

The Israeli military said it “precisely struck” a Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fighter operating from a command centre inside the hospital’s yard.

It came the same day as more than 130 global news and press freedom organisations – including the BBC – called for international media to be given immediate access to Gaza and for Palestinian journalists to be given full protection.

“For 20 months, the Israeli authorities have refused to grant journalists outside of Gaza independent access to the Palestinian territory – a situation that is without precedent in modern warfare,” they wrote in a letter co-ordinated by the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders.

“Local journalists, those best positioned to tell the truth, face displacement and starvation. To date, nearly 200 journalists have been killed by the Israeli military.

“Many more have been injured and face constant threats to their lives for doing their jobs: bearing witness. This is a direct attack on press freedom and the right to information.”

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military or government. They have previously denied that Israeli forces have targeted journalists.

The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate said the Israeli strike on al-Ahli hospital’s compound directly targeted a media tent.

Video footage showed medics and other people rushing to help casualties lying on the ground underneath a tree in a yard and carrying at least four of them into a medical tent.

“The Israeli drone suddenly attacked these colleagues,” Palestinian journalist Mohammed Ahmed told the news agency Reuters at the scene. “Three of them [were] martyred, in addition to a number of martyrs among passersby.”

“The Israeli occupation forces are increasing their attacks on us as journalists, trying to prevent us from doing our work,” he alleged.

The journalists’ syndicate identified the three dead journalists as Ismail Badah, a cameraman for the PIJ-affiliated Palestine Today TV channel, Soliman Hajaj, a Palestine Today editor, and Samir al-Refai of the Shams News network.

Another four journalists were injured, two of whom – Palestine Today correspondent Imad Daloul and Ahmed Qalja, a cameraman for Qatar-based Al-Araby TV – were in a critical condition, it said.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it “precisely struck an Islamic Jihad terrorist who was operating in a command-and-control centre” in the yard of the hospital. It did not name the target or provide any evidence.

The military also accused armed groups of using al-Ahli for “terrorist activity” and “cynically and brutally using the civilian population” inside – an allegation it has denied.

In April, staff at al-Ahli hospital said an Israeli strike destroyed its laboratory and damaged its emergency room. They did not report any direct casualties, but said a child died due to disruption of care. The Israeli military said it hit a Hamas “command-and-control centre”.

Hospitals are specially protected under international humanitarian law. They only lose that protection in certain circumstances, including being used as a base from which to launch an attack, as a weapons depot, or to hide healthy fighters.