Four journalists among victims as Nasser Hospital suffers repeated strikes amid ongoing war
An Israeli airstrike on Monday struck Nasser Hospital, the largest medical facility in southern Gaza, killing 19 people including four journalists, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Zaher al-Waheid, head of the ministry’s records department, said the victims were on the hospital’s fourth floor when the first missile hit, followed by a second strike in the same spot just moments later as rescuers rushed in.
Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis has been a lifeline for southern Gaza throughout 22 months of war, enduring repeated bombardments and shortages of medical supplies and staff. Officials said the attack dealt another devastating blow to an already overwhelmed facility.
Among those killed was 33-year-old Mariam Dagga, a freelance visual journalist who had contributed extensively to The Associated Press during the conflict, documenting starving children and overstretched doctors. Al Jazeera and Reuters confirmed that their contributors were also among the dead.
The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that at least 192 media workers have been killed in Gaza since the war began, making it one of the deadliest conflicts for journalists in recent history.
Neither Israel’s military nor the Prime Minister’s office immediately commented on the latest strike. Israel has previously defended attacks on hospitals by alleging militants were operating inside medical facilities but has rarely provided evidence.
Monday’s assault on Nasser Hospital came amid a wider escalation. In Gaza City, three people, including a child, were killed in a separate strike, Shifa Hospital reported. In central Gaza, Al-Awda Hospital said six civilians seeking aid were shot dead by Israeli gunfire, with 15 others wounded.
This is not the first time Nasser Hospital has been hit. In June, three people were killed and 10 wounded in an airstrike, while a March attack on its surgical unit left two dead.
The Gaza Health Ministry said on Sunday that at least 62,686 Palestinians have been killed in the war so far, with roughly half being women and children. The U.N. and independent monitors consider these figures the most reliable available, though Israel disputes them and has not released its own casualty data.
