A Palestinian TV channel says five of its journalists have been killed in an Israeli strike in the central Gaza Strip.
As of 20 December, 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.
The press freedom organisation has called for accountability for Palestinian journalists who have been directly targeted by the Israeli military.
At least another five people were also reported killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza City on Wednesday.
The Israeli military launched air strikes and a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip in response to last year’s Hamas attack.
According to a Palestinian television network, an Israeli strike in the central Gaza Strip has killed five of its journalists.
In the central Nuseirat refugee camp, they were in a Quds Today van parked outside al-Awda hospital, where one of the journalists’ wives was set to give birth.
A video of what appeared to be the burning car with “press” signs on the rear doors was uploaded by the channel.
Targeting “Islamic Jihad operatives posing as journalists” was the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) claim, and precautions were taken to prevent civilian casualties.
The reports left the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) “devastated.”.
“Journalists are civilians and must always be protected,” the statement read.
Due to Israel’s restrictions on international media entering and operating freely in Gaza, the BBC has been unable to independently confirm claims of either side.
Quds Today is associated with the armed organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), which participated in the Hamas-led assault on Israel on October 7, 2023. The war in Gaza was brought on by the extraordinary attack. It is thought that the organization provides funding to the TV station.
Ayman Nihad Abd Alrahman Jadi, Mohammed Ayad Khamis al-Ladaa, Faisal Abdallah Muhammad Abu Qamsan, Fadi Ihab Muhammad Ramadan Hassouna, and Ibrahim Jamal Ibrahim Al-Sheikh Ali were the five individuals identified by the Israeli military as the victims.
According to the report, “intelligence from multiple sources confirmed” that all were PIJ operatives, and a list discovered during an operation in Gaza “explicitly identified four” of them as such.
Quds Today said in a statement that the men “were killed as they carried out their media and humanitarian duty.”.
According to the CPJ, the war has killed at least 133 Palestinian journalists so far, making it the deadliest conflict for journalists as of December 20.
The organization that advocates for press freedom has demanded accountability for Palestinian journalists who have been singled out by the Israeli military.
The director of the Kamal Adwan hospital on Gaza’s northern border reported Thursday that an Israeli strike on a hospital building had killed roughly 50 people, including five employees. Among them were two paramedics and a pediatrician.
Wednesday’s Israeli strikes on Gaza City also reportedly claimed the lives of at least five more people.
In the city’s al-Zeitoun neighborhood, another 20 people were hurt, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry and the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Regarding the reported bombing, the Israeli military has not responded.
As the third child in a week to perish in similar circumstances, the father of a two-week-old Palestinian girl told the BBC about how his daughter froze to death in a tent in Gaza.
Sila, his daughter, was convulsing when Mahmoud Ismail Al-Faseeh woke up in the bitter cold. The head of pediatrics at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis told the Associated Press news agency that although she was taken to the hospital right away, she passed away from hypothermia.
The family sought refuge in the al-Mawasi region on the coast of Gaza, a strip of land that has been hit by airstrikes despite being declared a humanitarian zone by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Two additional infants, one three days old and the other one a month old, were brought in during the last 48 hours after succumbing to hypothermia, according to Ahmed al-Farra, the pediatrics head.
With Hamas and Israel pointing the finger at one another, hopes of recent progress toward a ceasefire have started to wane.
Hamas claimed that “new conditions” imposed by the Israeli government were causing the agreement to be delayed.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, claimed that the group was breaking agreements made regarding a potential ceasefire.
After encouraging indications, the most recent remarks represent a significant shift in tone on both sides.
The Israeli military responded to last year’s Hamas attack in the Gaza Strip with airstrikes and a ground offensive. In the attack, about 1,200 people were killed, and another 251 were captured and returned to Gaza.
Gaza’s health ministry reports that Israel’s offensive has killed over 45,000 Palestinians. The United Nations reports that nearly two million people, or 90% of the population, have been displaced.
Jaroslav Lukiv did more reporting.
