Nearly 200 journalists have been killed in Gaza, more than in any other conflict or any single place since the Committee to Protect Journalists began keeping track in the 1990s.
Journalists Mariam Dagga (L) Mohammad Salama (R) among those killed in Israeli attacks
,AMN / WEB DESK
Five journalists were among twenty people killed today in a strike on a hospital in southern Gaza, officials said. This comes two weeks after six journalists were killed in an Israeli targeted attack near al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
The Israel-Hamas has been one of the bloodiest conflicts for media workers, with a total of 192 journalists killed in Gaza in the 22-month conflict, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Nearly 200 journalists have been killed in Gaza, more than in any other conflict or any single place since the Committee to Protect Journalists began keeping track in the 1990s. All but a handful were Palestinians who had to balance their own families’ displacement and hunger with the mission of bearing witness amid grave danger.
Israel barred international correspondents from Gaza when the war began, except for occasional military embeds. So we’re all relying on locals to tell us what happens there.
Israeli officials have not given a reason for the attack. Hospitals are off limits under international law, but Israel points out that Hamas operates from hospitals and other protected sites.
Human rights groups say Israel targets journalists and acts without regard to their presence in the line of fire. Israel denies those claims. Two weeks ago, Israel assassinated Anas al-Sharif, an Al Jazeera correspondent who it said was also a member of Hamas’s armed wing. Five other journalists were killed in that strike, which targeted a press tent in northern Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was unusually contrite about yesterday’s attack. He promised to investigate. “Israel values the work of journalists, medical staff and all civilians,” he said. “Our war is with Hamas terrorists.” The slain journalists worked for The Associated Press, Reuters, Al Jazeera and Middle East Eye.