Officials said the strike was a double-tap attack. A second missile hit moments after the first, killing victims as rescue teams rushed in to help.
At least 15 people lost their lives on Monday when an Israeli airstrike hit the fourth floor of Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Among the dead were three journalists, including one working for Al Jazeera and another for Reuters, Associated Press reported.
Officials said the strike was a double-tap attack. A second missile hit moments after the first, killing victims as rescue teams rushed in to help.
Israel’s military has not given an immediate response to questions about the strike. In past statements, Israeli officials have defended strikes on medical facilities, claiming that Hamas militants operate from inside hospitals.
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Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, the largest hospital in southern Gaza, has faced repeated raids and attacks over the last 22 months of conflict.
In June, another strike on the hospital killed three people and injured ten, according to Gaza’s health ministry. At the time, Israel said the strike targeted a Hamas command centre inside the hospital.
Doctors and aid workers have long warned that Gaza’s hospitals are collapsing under pressure. Nasser Hospital has struggled with shortages of medicine, equipment, and staff, even as waves of patients arrive after bombings.
The most recent strike has heightened concerns that hospitals, which ought to be safeguarded by international law, are becoming more dangerous places for journalists, medical personnel, and civilians.
The health ministry in Gaza said on Sunday that at least 62,686 Palestinians have died since the conflict began. It does not separate fighters from civilians but estimates that about half of those killed were women and children.
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The United Nations and independent observers consider the ministry’s numbers the most reliable. Israel disputes these figures but has not released its own data.
Journalists reporting the battle in Gaza are increasingly at risk, as evidenced by the fatalities of reporters during the Nasser Hospital strike. Press freedom organizations and media watchdogs have cautioned time and again that the conflict is killing journalists at a startling rate.
