Gaza: seven journalists injured after Israeli airstrike on Al-Aqsa hospital | Gaza Strip

Seven journalists, one of them from the BBC, were injured in an Israeli air strike that hit Al-Aqsa Hospital in Gaza this Sunday, the British television station reported. According to the same source, four elements of Islamic Jihad, which is an ally of Hamas, died during the attack. The Israeli army confirmed that it hit an Islamic Jihad command center that was located in the underground floors of that health unit in Deir al-Balah, but both Hamas and the hospital’s medical staff deny that the hospitals are used as bases, indicates the BBC.

The majority of journalists currently living within the perimeter of the hospital grounds are from northern Gaza. They continue to work selling photographs that document what life is like in and around the hospital to the media, while also caring for the families who live there in tents.

The tent closest to the explosion belonged to the Turkish news agency Anadolu. “They hit the tent without any warning. We were in the tent as a group of journalists, peacefully and without any terrorists among us,” photojournalist Ali Hamad told Reuters news agency. “We were preparing the cameras and suddenly the tent was hit. Everything went dark, there was debris and rocks being thrown over our heads and flames,” he added.

“The command center and the terrorists were hit precisely and with the intention of minimizing any side effects for civilians in the hospital area,” the Israeli army said in a statement cited by the BBC. That health unit is the only one left in operation in the center of the Gaza Strip. According to figures from the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, Israeli air strikes in the last 24 hours killed 77 people in Gaza.

Another air strike also hit the refugee camp in Al-Maghazi, in southern Gaza, killing ten Palestinians.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), https://twitter.com/DrTedros/status/1774477221278765248, also confirmed the attack. “A WHO team was on a humanitarian mission at Al-Aqsa hospital in Gaza when the tent camp inside the hospital was hit by an Israeli airstrike today. Four people died and 17 were injured,” he said, explaining that the team was at the hospital “assessing needs and collecting incubators to be sent to northern Gaza.”

Tedros also called for an end to the attacks. “We call for the protection of patients, healthcare personnel and humanitarian missions. The ongoing attacks and militarization of hospitals must stop. International humanitarian law must be respected. We call on all parties to the conflict to comply with the UN resolution for a ceasefire.”

According to the report this Sunday made by the International Committee for the Protection of Journalists, as a result of this conflict, 95 journalists and media workers have already died – 90 Palestinians, two Israelis and three Lebanese -, 16 journalists have been injured, four are missing , 25 were arrested and others were the target of assaults, threats, computer attacks, censorship or saw members of their family killed.