Israel denies targeting journalists in double-tap strike on hospital

Israel’s military has denied targeting journalists in Monday's double tap strike on a Gaza hospital.

The first strike hit the top floor, killing a cameraman from the Reuters news agency and one other person. People rushed to help when the second projectile landed.

Photos taken from below showed at least 16 people gathered on the staircase. Four were wearing emergency responders’ orange vests. No one was seen with a weapon.

In all, 20 people were killed, with five journalists among the dead.

In a report released on Tuesday, the military said the strike was aimed at what it believed was a Hamas surveillance camera.

The army offered no explanation as to why it struck twice and no evidence for its claim that six of the dead were militants.

International outrage

The attack has been widely condemned by rights groups and international leaders.

Anouar El Anouni is a spokesperson for the European Commission:

"The killing of five journalists, four health workers and a number of civilians in Gaza yesterday by an Israeli strik which targeted the Nasser hospital, leaving at least 20 people killed, is completely unacceptable. Civilians and journalists must be protected under international law."

“The killing of journalists in Gaza should shock the world,” said United Nations Human Rights Office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan. “Not into stunned silence but into action, demanding accountability and justice.”

The Israel-Hamas war has been one of the bloodiest conflicts for media workers, with 189 Palestinian journalists killed by Israeli fire in Gaza in 22 months of fighting, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

'Gaps' in investigation

Among the six people killed Monday that Israel claimed were militants were Jumaa al-Najjar, a health care worker at Nasser Hospital, and Imad al-Shaar, a driver with Gaza’s civil defence agency, which operates under the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, according to the agency and Nasser hospital’s casualty list.

Without offering evidence, Israel has in the past identified emergency responders who work under the Hamas-run government as militants to be targeted, including in the killing of 15 medics in March, when Israeli troops opened fire on ambulances in southern Gaza.

The military’s chief of general staff acknowledged several “gaps” in the investigation so far, including the kind of ammunition used to take out the camera.