NEW YORK (AP) – Two major news outlets have described what happened during a strike at a Gaza hospital where Israel killed five journalists last month, demanding that it sought concrete action and accountability to ensure that it never happens again.
Through their top editors, Alessandra Garoni and Julie Pace, Reuters and the Associated Press, urged the Israeli government to “take every step to explain the deaths of these journalists and protect those who continue to cover this conflict.” Their statement came on the anniversary of the strike month.
Five journalists were killed on the strike, including visual journalists. Mariam Daga, People who worked for AP and other news organizations. Reuters photographer Hasam Almasli; Mores Abu Taha, a freelance journalist published by Reuters. Seventeen people were killed in the strike.
“We update clear account requests from Israeli authorities and urge the government to support its obligation to ensure freedom of press and protection,” a statement from the Associated Press and Reuters said. “We remain devastated and furious by their deaths.”
The journalist died at Nasser Hospital, but noted that the agency is protected under international law and “is widely known to be extremely important for news coverage from Gaza.”
“This gravity incident requires quick and clear explanations, followed by accountability and concrete action to ensure that such attacks are not repeated,” the statement said.
The two agencies wrote joint letters shortly after the attack, but Israel has not responded. Israeli military said it had begun investigating the incident.
The Gaza War was fatal for those who veiled it. Nearly 200 journalists and media workers have been killed in the region since the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, according to the Commission on Protecting Journalists. In comparison, 18 journalists have been killed so far in the Russian war in Ukraine, according to the CPJ.
AP report on attacks At the hospital, he raised serious questions about Israel’s rationale for strikes and how they were implemented.
The agency’s statement was issued before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was scheduled to attend the UN General Assembly during the annual leadership meeting.
Daga, 33, was one of the victims of the war. She and four other reporters were killed during the Israeli army Nasser Hospital attacked In the town of Karn Yunis, Gaza, together with 17 other people.
Without providing evidence, the Israeli military said it believed it was Hamas surveillance cameras in hospital attacks and that journalists were not the target. The Prime Minister called the attack a “disaster.”
