Israeli drone strike kills 5 journalists in Gaza sparking global outrage

An Israeli drone strike killed five journalists outside a Gaza hospital, drawing condemnation from media groups and raising concerns over attacks on press freedoms during the ongoing conflict

An Israeli drone strike killed five journalists outside a hospital in Gaza.

One of them had just celebrated his wife giving birth, while the other four were sleeping in a van marked “Press”. The journalists were working for Al-Quds Today, a television channel affiliated with the Islamic Jihad militant group. They were killed outside the al-Awda hospital in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

Media groups slammed the attack, which Israel described as “targeted”. Palestinian journalist Abdullah al-Attar said: “Journalism is not a crime.” Laura Davison, general secretary of the UK’s National Union of Journalists, said: “This is an outrageous attack and a clear breach of ­international law. There can have been no doubt that the van was a media installation. Journalists and their ­facilities are protected by international conventions and should not be targeted.”

The Israeli Defence Forces claimed members of the Islamic Jihad militant group were inside. The Committee to Protect Journalists says more than 130 Palestinian reporters have been killed since the start of the war. Another Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood killed five people and wounded 20, Gaza medics said.

Israel has been bombing Gaza since October 7 last year, when Hamas killed 1,200 people. Since then, Israel has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians. On Christmas Day, a three-week-old girl, named Sila, froze to death in a tent in al-Mawasu. In Yemen, Israel airstrikes hit Houthi rebel positions in capital Sanaa, including at power stations, ports and the airport.

Three were reported killed and 11 wounded. Head of the UN health agency Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was at the airport. He said: “The air traffic control tower, departure lounge and the runway were damaged.”

Furious media groups slammed the Israeli attack. Palestinian journalist Abdullah al-Attar posted on twitter: "Journalism is not a crime."
And the UK’s National Union of Journalists strongly condemned the killing of five journalists.

Laura Davison, General Secretary, NUJ said: "This is an outrageous attack and a clear breach of international law. There can have been no doubt that the van was a media installation. Journalists and their facilities are protected by international conventions, as civilians, and should not be targeted. This is yet another gross violation and must be condemned.”

The head of the U.N. health agency says he and his team were about to board a flight in Yemen's rebel-held capital Sanaa when the airport came under aerial bombardment. The Israeli military said it attacked infrastructure used by the Houthis at the airport as well as power stations and ports in Houthi-controlled areas.

"The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge - just a few meters (yards) from where we were - and the runway were damaged," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X. He said one of the U.N. plane's crew was injured but he and his WHO colleagues were safe. "We will need to wait for the damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave."

Tedros said the U.N. team was in Yemen to negotiate the release of U.N. staff detained by the Houthis and to assess the health and humanitarian situation in the country, which faces one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world.