After Killing Five Journalists in Double-Tap Strike on Gaza Hospital, Israel Claims It Targeted Hamas Camera, Hamas Challenges Allegations

Gaza (Quds News Network)- Hamas has stated that none of the 21 people killed in Monday’s Israeli double-tap strike on Nasser Hospital were members of its movement, challenging the Israeli military’s claim that the attack targeted a Hamas surveillance camera and killed six fighters. The strike also killed five journalists.

On Monday, the Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the Israeli forces first hit the hospital’s fourth floor. Minutes later, it struck medical teams who rushed to help the wounded. Nasser Hospital is the only functioning medical center in southern Gaza. Hospital officials said dozens were also injured.

Among the victims were five journalists:

• Hussam Al-Masri, Reuters photojournalist
• Mohammed Salama, Al Jazeera photojournalist
• Mariam Abu Daqqa, journalist with Independent Arabia and AP
• Moath Abu Taha, journalist with NBC News
• Ahmed Abu Aziz, journalist with Quds Feed

Other victims included Mohammad Al-Habibi, a sixth-year medical student, and Imad Al-Shaer, a civil defense firefighter and father of three.

Israeli soldiers claimed that there was a camera that was used by Hamas to monitor military movements. They fired a second shell to “confirm the hit.” That strike landed on rescue teams and doctors treating the injured.

The Israeli army said the Chief of Staff ordered a preliminary investigation, claiming that the army “does not target journalists”.

Live footage from the hospital showed journalists standing on the stairs before they were hit in the second strike.

Later on the same day, Israeli forces targeted journalist Hasan Dohan while he was inside his tent in Al-Mawasi.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military claimed that its “initial investigation” into its own attack on the southern Gaza hospital showed that the target was a camera positioned in the area and used by Hamas to monitor Israeli troop movements.

“In light of this, the force acted to destroy the camera,” the Israeli army said.

The Israeli military also claimed that it targeted and killed six fighters in the attack.

In a statement on Wednesday, Hamas challenged the Israeli government’s account that claimed to name six fighters killed in the attack.

Hamas said that at least two of the six Palestinians named by the Israeli military were not killed in the shocking double strike on the hospital, but at other times and locations, including one who was killed in al-Mawasi, some distance from the hospital in Khan Younis.

Gaza’s Government Media Office also refuted the claims.

The Office noted that the moment of the initial Israeli strike, a Reuters news agency live video feed, which cameraman Hussam al-Masri had been operating, suddenly shut down. Al-Masri was killed in the attack.

It referred to the second attack, calling it a “double-tap strike”, two strikes on the same target. The first strike is intended to kill an individual or individuals, the second to kill any rescue workers who come to help. The Office added the strike breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which prohibit the targeting of medics, anyone assisting in rescue efforts or those wounded in the first strike.

In fact, Monday’s strikes targeted a hospital full of medical staff, rescuers and journalists. All of them are protected under international law.

The Office also said Israel targeted and killed in the attack well-known journalists who were working with international agencies and they were not wanted.