At least 10 persons, including five journalists, were killed and more than a dozen injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza on Thursday, Reuters reported, quoting health authorities in Gaza.
Five persons were killed and 20 injured in an airstrike on a home in the city’s Zeitoun neighborhood, with health officials warning that the toll could rise due to people being trapped under rubble.
In another incident, five journalists from Al-Quds Al-Youm television were killed when their vehicle was struck near Al-Awda hospital in Nuseirat, central Gaza, according to the health authorities.
The journalists – Ayman Al-Jadi, Faisal Abu Al-Qumsan, Mohammed Al-Lada’a, Ibrahim Al-Sheikh Ali, and Fadi Hassouna – were asleep in their vehicle when the strike hit, CNN reported, quoting other journalists at the scene.
Al-Quds Today Television condemned the attack, stating the five journalists were killed while fulfilling their duties.
The Israeli military confirmed the strike, claiming it targeted an “Islamic Jihad terrorist cell” in Nuseirat, but provided no evidence for its allegations, reported CNN.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said that as of December 20, at least 141 journalists and media workers were killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and Lebanon since the war began on October 7, last year, “marking the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ started collecting data in 1992”.
“Journalists in Gaza face particularly high risks as they try to cover the conflict, including devastating Israeli airstrikes, famine, the displacement of 90% of Gaza’s population, and the destruction of 80% of its buildings,” the group said.
On December 15, an Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed five persons, including 39-year-old photojournalist Ahmad Al-Louh, who freelanced with Al Jazeera.
The strike targeted a Civil Defense office in Nuseirat Camp, central Gaza, marking the anniversary of a similar attack that killed one of Al-Louh’s colleagues.
Israel’s military offensive against Gaza began on October 7, 2023, after Hamas launched an incursion into southern Israel, killing 1,200 persons and taking over 200 hostages. Israel has been carrying out unprecedented air and ground strikes on Gaza since then, killing more than 46,000 persons, including over 17,400 children.
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