Al-Quds Today journalists were covering events at al-Awda Hospital when a vehicle was struck, according to reports.
Five journalists were killed in an Israeli strike near a hospital in central Gaza, according to Palestinian authorities and media reports.
Journalists from Al-Quds Today were covering events near al-Awda hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp when their broadcast van was hit by an Israeli airstrike, Anas al-Sharif reported from Tel Aviv Tribune early Thursday morning.
Images from the scene circulating on social media show a vehicle engulfed in flames.
A screenshot taken from a video of the white van shows the word “press” in large red letters on the rear of the vehicle.
The deceased journalists are Fadi Hassouna, Ibrahim al-Sheikh Ali, Mohammed al-Ladah, Faisal Abu al-Qumsan and Ayman al-Jadi.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s Anas al-Sharif said Ayman al-Jadi waited for his wife outside the hospital while she was in labor to give birth to their first child.
Breaking: Five journalists lost their lives after their vehicle was incinerated in an Israeli airstrike targeting the “Al-Quds Today” broadcast van while they were covering events near Al Hospital -Awda in the Nuseirat refugee camp, in the center of the Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/oiAmxgZwO5
– Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) December 26, 2024
Civil defense teams recovered the bodies of the victims and extinguished a fire at the site, the Quds news channel reported.
The Israeli military said it carried out a “targeted” attack on a vehicle carrying Islamic Jihad operatives and would continue to take action against “terrorist organizations” in Gaza.
“Prior to the attack, numerous measures were taken to reduce the risk of harm to civilians, including the use of precision weapons, aerial observations and additional intelligence,” the military said in a message on X.
Israel, which has not allowed foreign journalists to enter Gaza except on military assignment, has been condemned by a number of press freedom organizations, who now consider the strip of Gaza as the most dangerous region in the world for journalism.
Earlier this month, Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said more than 145 journalists had been killed by the Israeli army in Gaza since the war began in October 2023, condemning the high toll as a “massacre unprecedented.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said this month that at least 141 journalists had been killed in Gaza, calling on the international community to hold Israel accountable for its attacks on the media.
The Palestinian Journalists’ Union last week reported an even higher toll, saying more than 190 journalists had been killed and at least 400 injured since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Israel banned Tel Aviv Tribune on its territory and accused six of its journalists in Gaza of being members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The channel vehemently condemned the “unfounded allegations” and said Israel had used “fabricated accusations…to silence the few remaining journalists in the region, thereby obscuring the harsh realities of the war from the public eye.” from all over the world.”