Palestinian journalists killed in Israeli airstrike outside hospital in Gaza Strip, Health Ministry claims

26 December 2024, 15:37 | Updated: 26 December 2024, 19:27

An Israeli strike has killed five Palestinian journalists outside a hospital in the Gaza Strip, the Health Ministry said.

The strike hit a car outside the Al-Awda Hospital in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in the central part of the territory.

The journalists were working for the local news outlet Al-Quds Today, a television channel affiliated with the Islamic Jihad militant group.

The Israeli military said all five were militants posing as reporters.

Islamic Jihad is a smaller and more extreme ally of Hamas, and took part in its attack into southern Israel on October 7 2023, which ignited the war.

The Israeli military identified four of the men as combat propagandists and said that intelligence, including a list of Islamic Jihad operatives found by soldiers in Gaza, had confirmed that all five were affiliated with the group.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian militant groups operate political, media and charitable operations in addition to their armed wings.

Associated Press footage showed the incinerated shell of a van with press markings still visible on the back doors.

Several young men attended the funeral outside the hospital, many of them sobbing.

The bodies were wrapped in white shrouds with blue press vests draped over them.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says more than 130 Palestinian reporters have been killed since the start of the war.

Israel has not allowed foreign reporters to enter Gaza except on military embeds.

Israel has banned the pan-Arab Al Jazeera network and accused six of its Gaza reporters of being militants. The Qatar-based broadcaster denies the allegations and accuses Israel of trying to silence its war coverage, which has focused heavily on civilian casualties from Israeli military operations.

Separately, the military said a 35-year-old reserve soldier was killed during fighting in central Gaza early on Thursday.

A total of 389 soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the ground operation over a year ago.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed across the border in a surprise attack on nearby army bases and farming communities.

They killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250. About 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel's air and ground offensive has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry.

It says more than half the fatalities have been women and children but does not say how many of the dead were fighters.

Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The offensive has caused widespread destruction and driven around 90% of the population of 2.3 million from their homes.

Hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid tent camps along the coast, with little protection from the cold, wet winter.