At least 20 people, including five
journalists working for the
international media, have been killed in
two Israeli air strikes in Gaza. The
Israeli military hit a hospital, NASA,
in the southern city of Kunis. It
follows an Israeli strike two weeks ago
which killed six journalists who also
worked for Western news outlets outside
another hospital in Gaza City. Today,
after a first attack, a second strike
took place as rescue crews and
journalists rushed to the scene.
Tonight, the Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said Israel regretted what he
described as a tragic mishap after the
UN Secretary General condemned the
killings. Israel doesn't allow
international journalists from media
organizations, including the BBC,
independent access to Gaza. So this
report by Lucy Williamson is from is
from Jerusalem and contains distressing
scenes.
Through the chaos and confusion at NASA
hospital today, one pattern of this war
was made clear as patients and families
rushed out after the Israeli strike.
Rescue workers and journalists rushed
in. On the eastern staircase, they
carried the dead and injured past the
equipment of Reuters's cameraman Hamal
Masri, killed while filming from the
roof.
Then this,
another blast ripping through the
building while they worked. On the
ground, this Palestinian cameraman keeps
filming. "They killed the people," he
shouts. "They're targeting the people."
As the crowd surges past him,
on the staircase above, the dazed
movements of survivors amid the dust and
dead.
Seconds before, an anguished medic held
up his colleagueu's bloodied coat.
He survived, but 20 others were killed,
including four more journalists.
>> What we saw there is scenes that I will
never forget. Um, we uh we've seen a lot
here in in the year and a half that I've
been here and the the almost two years
of this catastrophe. Um, and it just
gets worse and worse.
>> Without anything, without any prior
warning, the area was targeted not just
once but twice.
>> Medsan Frontier described the strikes as
horrendous, accusing Israel of attacking
healthare workers and journalists with
impunity.
Israel's army said it was investigating
a strike in the area of NASA hospital
that it regretted any harm to uninvolved
individuals and did not target
journalists as such.
>> We are operating in an extremely complex
reality. Kamas terrorists deliberately
use civilian infrastructure including
hospitals as shields. They have even
operated from the Nasser hospital
itself.
>> For a moment today, journalists in Khan
Ununice put down their cameras and
picked up the bodies of their
colleagues. Those still left to witness
this conflict and treat its victims are
bracing for Israel's next offensive.
What Israel sees as defense, many others
now see as indefensible.
[Music]
>> And we can speak to Lucy in Jerusalem
now. And Lucy, not for the first time.
There's been international condemnation
of this attack.
>> Yes, a spate of condemnation from world
leaders and human rights organizations.
The US President Donald Trump was asked
about it at a press conference today.
And when he was told what was happened,
he what had happened. He said, "I'm not
happy about it. I don't want to see it."
But at the same time, he said, "We have
to end this whole nightmare." The UK
foreign secretary David Lambi said he
was horrified by the attack. Civilians,
health workers, and journalists must be
protected, he said. And in the past few
hours, we've had a statement from the UN
Secretary General's office strongly
condemning the attack and saying medics
and journalists must be able to work
without interference, intimidation, or
harm. We've heard these kinds of
responses again and again in this war.
Israel insists it goes out of its way to
protect civilians. But again, tonight
it's under pressure to justify why it's
attacking people and places that are
protected under international law.