4 scribes among 19 killed in Israel’s Gaza strike

Israel hit southern Gaza’s main hospital with a double missile strike Monday, killing at least 19 people, including four journalists, medical officials said.

The first strike hit the top floor of one of the buildings at Nasser Hospital. Minutes later, as journalists and rescue workers in orange vests rushed up an external staircase to the scene, a second missile hit in the same spot, said Dr Ahmed al-Farra, head of Nasser’s paediatrics department. Among those killed was 33-year-old Mariam Dagga, a visual journalist.

Israel’s military, in a statement, confirmed it had struck targets in the area of the hospital. It said it would conduct an investigation into the incident and that it regretted any harm to uninvolved individuals and did not target journalists as such. It was the latest in multiple Israeli attacks on hospitals throughout the war. Hospitals have been overwhelmed by war-wounded and now by increasing numbers of malnourished, as parts of Gaza slide into famine. Palestinians are also facing an escalated Israeli offensive into Gaza City, which threatens a greater wave of displacement.

The first strike at around 10.10 am hit the hospital’s fourth floor, killing at least two people, said Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the Health Ministry’s records department.