Five Gaza journalists killed in Israeli strike targeting armed group
A Palestinian TV channel says five of its journalists have been killed in an Israeli strike in the central Gaza Strip.
They were in a ‘Quds Today’ van parked outside al-Awda hospital, where the wife of one of the journalists was about to give birth, in the central Nuseirat refugee camp.
The channel posted a video of what it said was the burning vehicle with “press” signage on the back doors.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it had targeted “Islamic Jihad operatives posing as journalists” and that steps were taken to avoid harming civilians.
The BBC has not been able to verify claims made by either side, with international media being prevented by Israel from entering and freely working on the ground in Gaza.
‘Quds Today’ is affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), an armed group that took part in the October 07, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. The unprecedented attack triggered the war in Gaza. The TV channel is believed to receive funding from the group.
In a separate development, the director of the Kamal Adwan hospital on the northern edge of Gaza said on Thursday about 50 people, including five of its staff, had been killed in an Israeli strike on a building by the hospital. A paediatrician and two paramedics were among them.
The IDF said it was “unaware of strikes” in the hospital area, adding that it was looking into claims that five doctors had been killed.
“The number of casualties reported in the media does not align with the information held by the IDF,” it said. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it was “devastated by the reports” of five journalists being killed in the central Gaza Strip. “Journalists are civilians and must always be protected,” it said.
The Israeli military named the five killed as Ibrahim Jamal Ibrahim Al-Sheikh Ali; Faisal Abdallah Muhammad Abu Qamsan; Mohammed Ayad Khamis al-Ladaa; Ayman Nihad Abd Alrahman Jadi; and Fadi Ihab Muhammad Ramadan Hassouna.
It said “intelligence from multiple sources confirmed” that all were PIJ operatives, and that a list found during an operation in Gaza “explicitly identified four” of them as such.
In a statement, ‘Quds Today’ said the men “were killed as they carried out their media and humanitarian duty”. As of December 20, at least 133 Palestinian journalists have been killed during the course of the war, making it the deadliest conflict for journalists, according to the CPJ.
BBC
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