Palestinians stand near the remains of a broadcasting vehicle following an Israeli airstrike near Al-Awda Hospital

5 journalists among 21 killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza

26 Dec 2024, 00:55 · RTE.ie

Gaza authorities have said an Israeli airstrike has killed five Palestinian journalists outside a hospital, while Israel's army said it had attacked a vehicle carrying Islamic Jihad militants.

Medics said the five were among at least 21 people killed in Israeli air assaults across the enclave before dawn, as Hamas and Israel traded blame over delays in reaching a ceasefire deal after more than 14 months of fighting.

The Palestinian Journalists Union said one strike killed five journalists from the Al-Quds Today channel who were in a broadcast vehicle in front of Al-Awda Hospital in the Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

Video from the scene showed the twisted wreckage of a white van with what appeared to be the remnants of the word "PRESS" in red on the back doors.

Smoke and flames rise after Israeli forces hit the live broadcasting vehicle

The union said more than 190 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israeli fire since the war began in October 2023.

The Gaza-based channel called the strike a massacre and said in a statement on Telegram the five "were killed as they carried out their media and humanitarian duty".

The Israeli military said it "conducted a precise strike on a vehicle with an Islamic Jihad terrorist cell inside in the area of Nuseirat."

Israel has regularly denied targeting journalists and says its take steps to avoid hitting civilians.

Medics in the enclave said eight other people were killed and 20 wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza City's Zeitoun neighbourhood. The death toll could rise as many people were trapped under the rubble, they added.

In Gaza City, an Israeli strike on a house in the suburb of Sabra killed eight more people, medics said, bringing the death toll to 21.

Men check the site of an Israeli strike on a broadcast truck in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza

Three babies die of 'severe temperature drop' - hospital

Meanwhile, the chief paediatric doctor at a southern Gaza hospital told AFP that three babies had died of "severe temperature drop" this week, as the Palestinian territory grapples with winter cold.

In the most recent case, Dr Ahmed al-Farra of Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis city said a three-week-old girl "was brought to the emergency room with a severe temperature drop, which led to her death".

Dr Farra, the head of the hospital's paediatric services, mentioned two other cases his team handled on Tuesday.

"A three-day-old baby and another baby, less than a month old, both died after a severe temperature drop," he said.

"This is due to the fact that they live in tents," added the doctor, referring to Palestinians displaced by the more than 14-month war in Gaza who have sought shelter in makeshift camps, many in the coastal Khan Yunis area.

"The tents do not protect from the cold, and it gets very cold at night, with no way to keep warm," said Dr Farra.

Dr Ahmed al-Farra, head of the pediatric department at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis

The risk to newborns is particularly acute, he added, as many mothers suffer malnutrition affecting the quality of the milk their babies feed on.

The deceased three-week-old girl, Sila al-Faseeh, lived in the Al-Mawasi tent city, on the Mediterranean coast near Khan Yunis.

Her father, Mahmoud al-Faseeh, told AFP that in her final hours, "the little girl woke up two or three times during the night to breastfeed".

In the morning, the parents saw "she had bitten her tongue and was bleeding", said the father.

"We took her to the doctor, who told us it was due to the cold, and there have been several cases with similar symptoms."

Mr Faseeh said it was "extremely cold, and the tent is not suitable for living. The children are always sick".

According to Israel's weather service, temperatures in Gaza in recent days were as low as 8C at night.

Hamas, Israel trade blame over ceasefire failure

Yesterday, Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel traded blame over their failure to conclude a ceasefire agreement despite progress reported by both sides in past days.

Hamas said Israel had laid down further conditions, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the group of going back on understandings already reached.

"The occupation has set new conditions related to withdrawal, ceasefire, prisoners, and the return of the displaced, which has delayed reaching the agreement that was available," Hamas said.