Israeli air strikes at Gaza Hospital kill at least 19 people, including 4 journalists

An Israeli strike struck a main hospital in the south of Gaza on Monday, killing 19 people, including four journalists, said Zaher al-Waheid, head of the Department of Gaza Ministry of Health.

The victims of the fourth floor of Nasser Hospital were killed when a missile struck and was followed in the same place by another missile a few moments later when the rescue teams, the ministry said.

The Nasser Hospital of Khan Younis, the largest in the south of Gaza, resisted raids and bombings throughout 22 months of war, those responsible citing critical shortages of supplies and staff.

Among the 15 killed were four journalists, including Mariam Dagga, 33, a visual journalist who had worked for the Associated Press since the start of the war. Dagga was a freelancer who recently reported on the doctors at Nasser hospital had trouble saving children who did not yet have previous health problems die or waste famine.

Al Jazeera confirmed that his journalist Mohammed Salam was one of those who were killed during the strike at Nasser hospital. Reuters reported that his cameraman entrepreneur Hussam Al-Masri was also killed in the strike. Photographer Hatem Khaled, who was also a Reuters entrepreneur, was injured, reported the news agency.

The War of Israel-Hamas was one of the bloodiest conflicts for media workers, with a total of 192 journalists killed in Gaza, according to the committee to protect journalists.

Neither the military office of Israel nor of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately answered questions about strikes.

In addition to the 15 killed at Nasser Hospital, officials of the Northern Gaza hospital also reported deaths after strikes and shots along the road to help the sites. Three Palestinians, including a child, were killed during a strike in a district of Gaza City, where Israel is preparing for a wider invasion in the coming days, the Shifa hospital said.

Al-Awda Hospital reported that six help seekers trying to reach a distribution point in the center of Gaza had been killed by Israeli shots during an incident that also injured 15.

The Israeli army did not immediately answer a question about aid seekers. Israeli strikes and raids on hospitals are not uncommon.

Hospitals not safe in 2 years of war

Several hospitals have been struck or attacked through the Gaza Strip, Israel saying that his attacks had targeted activists operating inside medical facilities.

A June strike at Nasser hospital killed three people and injured 10, according to the Ministry of Health. At the time, the Israeli army said it had targeted Hamas activists from a command and control center inside the hospital.

A March strike on the hospital surgical unit a few days after a ceasefire that collapsed killed two people.

The Ministry of Health said on Sunday that at least 62,686 Palestinians had been killed in the war. He does not distinguish between fighters and civilians, but says that around half of the people killed were women and children. The UN and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on the victims of the war. Israel challenges these figures but has not provided its own.

Look at the Dan Stewart de Save The Children on the conditions inside Gaza:

“Irparable damage has been made” to Palestinian children in Gaza: except children

Famine seized the largest city in the Gaza Strip due to the Israel assault on the region, and it could spread south to Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of next month, the main global authority on food crises said on Friday. Dan Stewart de Save The Children says that this famine must be the “lowest point of this disaster”, and that it will only get worse unless the international community rises.

The war began when activists led by Hamas removed 251 people and killed around 1,200 people, mainly civilians on October 7, 2023. Most hostages were released in ceasefies or other agreements, but 50 remain in Gaza, with around 20 which would be alive.

Israel on Friday rejected a report of a worldwide monitor who said that Gaza City and its surroundings were officially suffering from famine, saying that it had ignored the recent humanitarian stages of Israel.

The classification system for the integrated food security phase (IPC) said that 514,000 people – nearly a quarter of the Palestinians in Gaza – experience famine, the number due to 641,000 at the end of September.