Gaza authorities said an Israeli airstrike killed five Palestinian journalists outside a hospital on Thursday, but the Israeli army said it attacked a vehicle carrying Islamic Jihad militants.
Medics said the five were among at least 21 people killed in Israeli airstrikes across the Palestinian territory before dawn as Hamas and Israel traded blame over delays in ' a ceasefire agreement was reached after more than 14 months of fighting.
The Palestinian Union of Journalists said one strike killed five journalists from the Al-Quds Today channel who were in a broadcast vehicle in front of Al-Awda Hospital in the Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
The union said more than 190 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israeli fire since the war began in October 2023.
The Gaza-based channel called the strike a murder and said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that the five “were killed while carrying out their media and humanitarian duty.” “
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it carried out a “detailed strike on a vehicle with an Islamic Jihad terrorist cell inside the Nuseirat area.”
Israel has consistently denied targeting journalists and says it takes measures to prevent civilians.
The Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad group, which is an ally of Hamas, has fought several rounds against Israel in the past two decades, and the group's fighters have joined to the fight against Israel from October 2023. They said they also have hostages.
Israel's campaign against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 45,300 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-run enclave. Most of the population of 2.3 million have disappeared and much of Gaza is in ruins.
The war was sparked by a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage in Gaza, according to Israeli figures.
Death toll could rise, doctors say
Video from the scene of Thursday's attack showed the wreckage of a white van with the remains of the word “PRESS” in red on the back doors.
Later on Thursday, dozens of relatives and fellow journalists attended the funerals of five journalists, whose bodies were wrapped in white linen. Blue flak jackets emblazoned with the word “PRESS” were placed on top of the corpses.
“The Israeli army justifies or excuses this target by saying that it is targeting individuals who are involved in Palestinian groups and cells. But, on the ground, these people had worked journalism, living in news vehicles and covering events,” said Abed Meqdad, a journalist for Al-Araby TV channel at the funerals.
Women wept over the bodies because men made special prayers before funerals.
“May God take revenge on them, may God take revenge on them. He is the one who makes the news and broadcasts the crimes to the world, this is what they do to them,” said the mother of Fadi Hassouna, one of the dead journalists.
Medics in the siege said eight more people were killed and 20 wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Zeitoun area of Gaza City. The death toll could rise as many people were trapped under the debris, they said.
In Gaza City, an Israeli strike on a house in the suburb of Sabra killed eight more people, medics said, bringing Thursday's death toll to 21.
Israel blames Hamas trade for ceasefire delay
On Wednesday, Hamas and Israel traded blame for not finalizing a ceasefire agreement despite progress reported by both sides in recent days.
Hamas said that Israel had laid down further conditions, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the group of going back on an understanding that had already been reached.
“The occupation has set new conditions related to the withdrawal, cease-fire, prisoners and the return of the expelled, which has delayed the reaching of the available agreement,” said Hamas.
Netanyahu responded in a statement: “The terrorist group Hamas continues to lie, rejects an understanding that has already been reached, and continues to create problems in the negotiations.”
