Israel Kills 5 Journalists in Strike on Gaza Hospital, Including AP Reporter
The attack sent shockwaves as a second strike on rescue teams was caught on live broadcast.
By Sharon Zhang ,
Israel Kills Famous Gaza Reporter Anas Al-Sharif in Targeted Strike
Al-Sharif was hailed as the “voice” of Palestinians in Gaza, and was openly targeted by Israeli authorities.
By Sharon Zhang , TruthoutAugust 11, 2025
Israel acknowledged the strike, but said that it is opening an inquiry into the attack, claiming that Israeli forces do not target journalists — even as officials have openly bragged about their assassinations of Palestinian journalists, many of whom they have labelled as “terrorists.” A recent investigation found, in fact, that Israel has an entire intelligence unit tasked with justifying such killings.
Journalists often use the part of the hospital struck by Israel for live broadcasts, a surgeon who works at Nasser told The Washington Post. Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reported seeing an Israeli surveillance drone over the facility before the attack, “providing further evidence that it was deliberate and intelligence-guided, with precise information collected about the site and the victims.”
The Associated Press wrote that Dagga frequently worked out of Nasser. In her latest report for AP, on August 14, she reported on malnourished children in the hospital who were dying or at risk of death because of Israel’s near-total blockade on food and supplies needed to treat severe starvation cases.
Al Jazeera has reported that over 270 journalists have been killed in Israel’s genocide. The journalist death toll in Gaza is the worst of any war in modern history, with more journalists killed than in the last seven major U.S.-involved wars combined, including both world wars.
UN experts have said that Israel is killing journalists in order to erase witnesses to its atrocities, especially as it embarks on its destruction of Gaza City.
“Palestinian journalists right now are crying. If I show you my colleagues that are sitting between their reporting and live shifts, they’re trying to hold their tears, trying to find the words to describe what is going on. Our colleagues were killed live on air,” said Al Jazeera journalist Hind Khoudary. “There’s no way there are any words to describe what’s happening.”
“How many times are we going to continue reporting on the killing of our colleagues or the killing of other journalists working with Al Jazeera and other news outlets?” Khoudary asked.
UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory Francesca Albanese pleaded with countries to intervene to end Israel’s slaughter.
“Scenes like this unfold every moment in Gaza, often unseen, largely undocumented. I beg STATES: how much more must be witnessed before you act to stop this carnage?” she wrote.
The attack sent shockwaves as a second strike on rescue teams was caught on live broadcast.
By Sharon Zhang ,
Published
August 25, 2025
Mariam Dagga, a Palestinian visual journalist who has freelanced for AP since the start of the war, stands in front of cameras in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on January 18, 2025.Bashar Taleb / AFP
Israeli forces killed five journalists and those who came to rescue them in an apparent “double tap” strike on a major hospital in southern Gaza on Monday, in a massacre that health officials say left at least 20 Palestinians dead.
Gaza officials confirmed the journalists’ deaths. Hussam al-Masri, Mariam Abu Dagga, Mohammad Salama, and Moaz Abu Taha were killed immediately, while Ahmed Abu Aziz later died of his injuries. The journalists have done work for numerous outlets, with Dagga having worked for The Associated Press; al-Masri for Reuters; Salama for Al Jazeera; Salama and Aziz for Middle East Eye; and more.
The journalists were on the top floor of Nasser Hospital, the main hospital in southern Gaza, when Israel bombed them. Witnesses said that about 10 to 15 minutes later, as a group of civil defense workers responded to the attack, Israel bombed the hospital again, killing the medical workers as well. The hospital said that four of its staff had been killed.
The second strike was captured on a live broadcast on al-Ghad TV.
Double tap strikes violate international law, and have reportedly been increasingly used by Israeli forces in targeting Palestinian health workers in Gaza.
Related Story
Israeli forces killed five journalists and those who came to rescue them in an apparent “double tap” strike on a major hospital in southern Gaza on Monday, in a massacre that health officials say left at least 20 Palestinians dead.
Gaza officials confirmed the journalists’ deaths. Hussam al-Masri, Mariam Abu Dagga, Mohammad Salama, and Moaz Abu Taha were killed immediately, while Ahmed Abu Aziz later died of his injuries. The journalists have done work for numerous outlets, with Dagga having worked for The Associated Press; al-Masri for Reuters; Salama for Al Jazeera; Salama and Aziz for Middle East Eye; and more.
The journalists were on the top floor of Nasser Hospital, the main hospital in southern Gaza, when Israel bombed them. Witnesses said that about 10 to 15 minutes later, as a group of civil defense workers responded to the attack, Israel bombed the hospital again, killing the medical workers as well. The hospital said that four of its staff had been killed.
The second strike was captured on a live broadcast on al-Ghad TV.
Double tap strikes violate international law, and have reportedly been increasingly used by Israeli forces in targeting Palestinian health workers in Gaza.
Related Story
Israel Kills Famous Gaza Reporter Anas Al-Sharif in Targeted Strike
Al-Sharif was hailed as the “voice” of Palestinians in Gaza, and was openly targeted by Israeli authorities.
By Sharon Zhang , TruthoutAugust 11, 2025
Israel acknowledged the strike, but said that it is opening an inquiry into the attack, claiming that Israeli forces do not target journalists — even as officials have openly bragged about their assassinations of Palestinian journalists, many of whom they have labelled as “terrorists.” A recent investigation found, in fact, that Israel has an entire intelligence unit tasked with justifying such killings.
Journalists often use the part of the hospital struck by Israel for live broadcasts, a surgeon who works at Nasser told The Washington Post. Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reported seeing an Israeli surveillance drone over the facility before the attack, “providing further evidence that it was deliberate and intelligence-guided, with precise information collected about the site and the victims.”
The Associated Press wrote that Dagga frequently worked out of Nasser. In her latest report for AP, on August 14, she reported on malnourished children in the hospital who were dying or at risk of death because of Israel’s near-total blockade on food and supplies needed to treat severe starvation cases.
Al Jazeera has reported that over 270 journalists have been killed in Israel’s genocide. The journalist death toll in Gaza is the worst of any war in modern history, with more journalists killed than in the last seven major U.S.-involved wars combined, including both world wars.
UN experts have said that Israel is killing journalists in order to erase witnesses to its atrocities, especially as it embarks on its destruction of Gaza City.
“Palestinian journalists right now are crying. If I show you my colleagues that are sitting between their reporting and live shifts, they’re trying to hold their tears, trying to find the words to describe what is going on. Our colleagues were killed live on air,” said Al Jazeera journalist Hind Khoudary. “There’s no way there are any words to describe what’s happening.”
“How many times are we going to continue reporting on the killing of our colleagues or the killing of other journalists working with Al Jazeera and other news outlets?” Khoudary asked.
UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory Francesca Albanese pleaded with countries to intervene to end Israel’s slaughter.
“Scenes like this unfold every moment in Gaza, often unseen, largely undocumented. I beg STATES: how much more must be witnessed before you act to stop this carnage?” she wrote.
"Israel's broadcasted killing of journalists in Gaza continues while the world watches and fails to act firmly on the most horrific attacks the press has ever faced in recent history," said one press freedom advocate.
People mourn over the bodies of Palestinian journalists who were killed in an Israeli strike on Nasser hospital in the southern Gaza Strip, on August 25, 2025.
(Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
Brad Reed
Aug 25, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
Israel is drawing harsh criticism after it launched a pair of strikes at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza on Monday that left at least 20 people dead, including journalists and healthcare workers.
As reported by CNN, Israel launched "back-to-back strikes on the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis" that were "separated by only a matter of minutes." The second strike killed some emergency crew members who had rushed to the scene in the wake of the first strike.
The strikes drew immediate condemnation from press freedom groups who accused Israel of intentionally attacking reporters in Gaza and dismissed claims by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the strikes were a "tragic mishap."
Thibaut Bruttin, the director general of Reporters Without Borders, said Israel attacked the journalists in an attempt to prevent them from delivering news about the famine in Gaza.
"How far will the Israeli armed forces go in their gradual effort to eliminate information coming from Gaza?" he asked. "How long will they continue to defy international humanitarian law? The protection of journalists is guaranteed by international law, yet more than 200 of them have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza over the past two years."
He then called upon the United Nations Security Council to set an emergency meeting to enact "concrete measures... to end impunity for crimes against journalists, protect Palestinian journalists, and open access to the Gaza Strip to all reporters."
Sara Qudah, regional director at the Committee to Protect Journalists, called out the international community for letting Israel get away with launching military strikes against reporters.
"Israel's broadcasted killing of journalists in Gaza continues while the world watches and fails to act firmly on the most horrific attacks the press has ever faced in recent history," she said. "These murders must end now. The perpetrators must no longer be allowed to act with impunity."
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) accused Israel of "silencing the last remaining voices reporting about children dying silently amid famine" in Gaza, while charging the international community with reacting with "indifference and inaction."
"This cannot be our future new norm," said UNRWA. "Compassion must prevail. Let us undo this man-made famine by opening the gates without restrictions [and] protecting journalists, humanitarian and health workers. Time for political will. Not tomorrow, now."
Former New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan said that her fellow journalists needed to hold the Israeli government to account for its actions.
"Journalists everywhere need to stand in solidarity on this killing spree and resulting news blackout," she wrote on Bluesky.
And Drop Site News' Ryan Grim ripped into Netanyahu's claim that his government "deeply regrets the tragic mishap" that occurred at the hospital.
"Israel deeply regrets the tragic mishap of striking a hospital and then waiting 17 minutes until rescue workers gathered and striking it again," Grim commented sarcastically on X.
Israel has previously claimed that attacks on so-called "safe zones" and on aid workers were mistakes.
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