(Forelines): Five journalists were killed in Gaza when an Israeli strike hit their vehicle, CNN reported, quoting a hospital and their news outlet statement.
As per the hospital, the vehicle, belonging to Al-Quds Today Television, was parked outside Al-Awda Hospital when it was hit. The television channel, based in Gaza, is affiliated with the Palestine Islamic Jihad group.
Other journalists present at the scene stated Ayman Al-Jadi, Faisal Abu Al-Qumsan, Mohammed Al-Lada’a, Ibrahim Al-Sheikh Ali, and Fadi Hassouna were all sleeping in the vehicle when the strike hit, as stated in the report.
Footage from the aftermath showed the vehicles in flames with the words “TV” and “PRESS” clearly marked on the backdoors in large letters. Another video seen showed that it entirely engulfed by flames, as per CNN report.
Al-Quds Today Television condemned the attack and stated that the five people were killed “while performing their journalistic and humanitarian duty.”
The Israeli military confirmed conducting a strike on what it described as an “Islamic Jihad terrorist cell” in the Nuseirat area, but did not provide evidence to support the claim.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a US-based non-profit group, has said at least 141 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza, Israel, Lebanon and the West Bank since October 7 last year, “making it the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.”
Of those killed, 133 were Palestinians in Gaza, who “face particularly high risks as they try to cover the conflict,” according to CNN report. Earlier this month, an Al Jazeera photojournalist was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.
Ahmad Al-Louh, 39, and four others were killed in the strike that hit a Civil Defense office in Gaza’s Nuseirat Camp area, according to Al-Awda Hospital, which treated the injured.
Al Jazeera condemned the attack, stating that Al-Louh was “brutally killed” while reporting on a Civil Defense operation to rescue a family injured in a previous bombing.
The Israeli military stated it targeted the Civil Defence offices in a “precise strike,” claiming the site was being used by Hamas as a “command-and-control center.” It also stated that Al-Louh was a “terrorist” who had previously served with Islamic Jihad. The IDF did not provide any evidence for its allegations.
