AP freelancer among 5 journalists killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza hospital, health officials say

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes on a hospital in southern Gaza killed five journalists Monday, according to health officials, including one who days earlier had reported for The Associated Press on children being treated for starvation at the same facility.

Mariam Dagga, 33, a visual journalist, freelanced for the AP and other news outlets during the war. The news organization said in a statement that it was shocked and saddened to learn of Dagga’s death, as well as the deaths of other journalists.

“We are doing everything we can to keep our journalists in Gaza safe as they continue to provide crucial eyewitness reporting in difficult and dangerous conditions,” the AP said.

Two strikes hit Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in quick succession, medical officials said. In videos, journalists and rescue workers can be seen rushing to the scene of the first one, before a massive explosion hits an exterior staircase where journalists are often stationed.

In all, 20 people were killed, according to Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the Gaza Health Ministry’s records department.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the strike was a “tragic mishap” and that the military was investigating.

“Israel values the work of journalists, medical staff, and all civilians,” his office said in a statement.

The military, which said its troops carried out a strike in the area of Nasser Hospital, said it “regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and does not target journalists as such.”

Israeli media reported that Israeli troops fired two artillery shells at the hospital, targeting a Hamas surveillance camera on the roof.

Reuters said that ahead of the first strike, it was showing a live video feed filmed from the hospital when the feed suddenly shut down. The journalist filming the live video was killed in the first strike, Reuters said, citing hospital officials.

Video obtained by AP shows people climbing the external stairwell of the hospital just after the first strike — and then the thundering boom of the second strike.

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 the 22-month conflict, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Comparatively, 18 journalists have been killed so far in Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to the CPJ.

Like other journalists in Gaza, Mariam Dagga lived what she covered

Many of the journalists working in Gaza are facing the same struggles to find food, for themselves and their families, as the people they are covering. Dagga’s 13-year-old son was evacuated from Gaza earlier in the war and she herself was displaced multiple times due to the fighting.

Al Jazeera confirmed that its journalist Mohammed Salama was also among those who were killed in the Nasser strikes. Middle East Eye, a U.K.-based media outlet, said that Salama had also contributed to its coverage.

Reuters reported that its contractor cameraman Hussam al-Masri and Moaz Abu Taha, a freelancer who worked occasionally for the organization, were killed. The agency’s contractor photographer Hatem Khaled was wounded.

Ahmad Abu Aziz was also killed, according to Health Ministry official al-Waheidi. He had worked as a freelancer for Middle East Eye, the organization said.

Dagga frequently based herself at Nasser, most recently reporting on the hospital’s struggle to save children from starvation, including making a series of searing images. Independent Arabia, the Arabic language version of the British Independent, said Dagga also worked with the organization.

She often shared short, somber posts on Facebook, reflecting on her life in Gaza. In one of her last, on Sunday, she wrote: “When you see the soil covering the most precious thing you have, only then will you realize how trivial life is.”

Rising fears for journalists in Gaza

Thibaut Bruttin, the director general of Reporters Without Borders, said press freedom advocates had never seen such a severe step backward for reporters’ safety. He noted that journalists have been killed both in indiscriminate strikes and in targeted attacks that Israel’s military has acknowledged carrying out.

“They are doing everything they can to silence independent voices that are trying to report on Gaza,” Bruttin said.

The deadliest day for journalists in the Gaza war, according to the CPJ, was two weeks ago, when six journalists were killed, including Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif. The channel said that with Monday’s strike, 10 journalists associated with the network have been killed in Gaza.

Reporters Without Borders called for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting to examine what it called Israel’s failure to uphold the U.N. resolution protecting independent journalists in times of conflict.

A spokesperson for Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said journalists working in Gaza while their international colleagues are denied entry must be protected.

“The killing of journalists in Gaza should shock the world – not into stunned silence – but into action, demanding accountability and justice,” chief spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said.

Israel’s security council is expected to meet tomorrow night to discuss the plans for an expanded operation in Gaza and the ceasefire negotiations.

Aside from rare guided tours, Israel has barred international media from covering the war. News organizations instead rely largely on Palestinian journalists in Gaza — as well as residents — to show the world what is happening there. Israel often questions the affiliations and biases of Palestinian journalists but doesn’t permit others in.

Israel has often accused journalists in Gaza of being part of militant groups, including providing documents it says link the reporters to militant activity, which AP has been unable to verify. Israel’s military asserted that al-Sharif had led a Hamas cell, allegations that both Al Jazeera and al-Sharif previously dismissed as baseless.

The Foreign Press Association, which has petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court over Israel’s decision to block journalists from accessing Gaza, made an emotional plea on Monday.

“Too many journalists in Gaza have been killed by Israel without justification,” the organization said in a statement. “This must be a watershed moment. We appeal to international leaders: Do everything you can to protect our colleagues. We cannot do it ourselves.”

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This story has been updated to correct that Dagga’s son is 13, not 12, and to correct the spelling of the last name of the one of the journalists to Salama, not Salam. It has also been updated to correct that the number of journalists killed in Gaza, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, is 189, not 192.

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Magdy reported from Cairo and Lidman from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Sam Metz contributed from Jerusalem.