Israeli airstrike kills five Palestinian journalists at Gaza hospital

An Israeli strike killed five Palestinian journalists outside a hospital in the Gaza Strip overnight, the Health Ministry said early Thursday, even as their car clearly bore press markings. 

The strike hit the press vehicle outside the Al-Awda Hospital in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in the central part of the territory. 

The journalists were working for the local Quds News Network, a Palestinian-founded organisation. 

Associated Press footage showed the incinerated shell of a van, with press markings still visible on the back doors.

Several young men attended the funeral outside the hospital, many of them sobbing. The bodies were all wrapped in white shrouds, with blue press vests draped over them.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says over 130 Palestinian reporters have been killed since the start of the war.

Israel's military claimed it had instead targeted a group of fighters from Islamic Jihad, a militant group allied with Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 attack into southern Israel ignited the war. 

It added that 'prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians'.

The Quds News Network identified the five staffers killed in the strike as Faisal Abu Al-Qumsan, Ayman Al-Jadi, Ibrahim Al-Sheikh Khalil, Fadi Hassouna and Mohammed Al-Lada'a.

They were killed 'while performing their journalistic and humanitarian duty', the statement said.

'We affirm our commitment to continue our resistant media message,' it added.

Israel has not allowed foreign reporters to enter Gaza except on military embeds and has been accused of cracking down on news networks deemed unfriendly. 

Israel has banned the pan-Arab Al Jazeera network and accused six of its Gaza reporters of being militants. 

The Qatar-based broadcaster denies the allegations and accuses Israel of trying to silence its war coverage, which has focused heavily on civilian casualties from Israeli military operations.

Separately, the military said a 35-year-old reserve soldier was killed during fighting in central Gaza early Thursday. 

A total of 389 soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the ground operation over a year ago.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed across the border in a surprise attack on nearby army bases and farming communities. 

They killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250. 

Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel's air and ground offensive has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry. 

It says more than half the fatalities have been women and children but does not say how many of the dead were fighters. 

Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The offensive has caused widespread destruction and driven around 90% of the population of 2.3 million from their homes. 

Hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid tent camps along the coast, with little protection from the cold, wet winter.