Shortly after 10:00 a.m. Gaza time, this
is the Reuters news agency live shot
filmed from high up on Hanunus's NASA
hospital. Suddenly, the image freezes.
The sound drops. And this is why an
Israeli strike on the building,
witnesses say by a suicide drone has
killed the Reuters cameraman, Husam
al-Masri.
Chaos as the injured are brought inside
the hospital, which has once again been
targeted.
Outside, more journalists and emergency
workers are scrambling up the stairs to
the sight of the blast just below the
roof.
>> One man lifts up the equipment Al-Mazri
was using. Journalist, he shouts. These
images shot by another Reuters cameraman
injured when the second strike comes in.
This time, a tank shell. The same moment
at the hospital's main entrance.
This man injured in the leg, scrambling
to safety.
>> And again from outside via the live
broadcast of Algad television. Emergency
crews clearly visible.
Obscured by smoke and debris in the
aftermath.
Four journalists and at least one
emergency worker were killed in this
second strike. both targeted a part of
the building often used by media who
frequently base themselves at Gaza's
hospitals for the stories and for the
relative if at these moments speurious
sense of safety they can offer.
>> All of the journalists who report from
that corner of the hospital work for
international media outlets which means
the Israeli army has complete knowledge
of who is there and when. Yet they still
decided to strike. Among the journalists
killed were the Reuters cameraman Husam
al- Masri Muhammad Salama who worked for
Al Jazzer and Middle East Eye Ahmed Abu
Aiz who also worked for Middle East eye
and Mariam Dhaka a freelancer who worked
mainly for the Associated Press.
>> 33-year-old Dhaka was a single mother of
a young boy who'd been working recently
on child malnutrition and had provided
images for this program. Her cousin says
she told Mariam not to climb the stairs.
She had a son, Gaith. He's in the UAE
with his family. She sent him as soon as
the war started. She was waiting for it
to end so she could see him again.
>> Mo Abu Taha, the fifth journalist
killed, remembered today by the
hospital's head of pediatrics.
>> When I heard about Muad, I cried like
like like a child about him. You know,
Muaz is
a friend. He's he's a innocent. He's he
never talk about politics. He never talk
about something. He's just document the
starvation and malnutrition.
>> The Israeli military said it would
investigate the circumstances but blamed
Hamas for hiding among civilians.
>> As always, we will present our findings
as transparently as possible.
We regret any harm to uninvolved
individuals and are committed to
continue fighting kamas while taking all
the necessary precautions.
>> Earlier this month in Gaza City, Israel
deliberately killed Al Jazzer
correspondent Anas al- Sharif in the
grounds of Alshifa hospital along with
four of his colleagues calling Sharif a
Hamas terrorist, an accusation denied by
the network. The Committee to Protect
Journalists says nearly 200 have now
been killed since the start of the war.
one journalist on the first strike and
then eight minutes later when more
colleagues more aid workers are coming
to rescue and to help and the new target
the second time um then I think it's
also again as I was saying raised the
question uh and lift the doubt about
targeting specifically journalists. This
morning's strike has prompted further
international condemnation even as
Israel continues to build up forces for
its planned push into Gaza City, home to
around a million Palestinians.
In Hanunice this afternoon, the focus on
the horrors just happened, not those
still to come, on grieving for the
latest victims of this war. Among them,
those risking their lives to report on
it.
Well, earlier I spoke to Liz Olok, head
of humanitarian protection at medical
aid for Palestinians. She was at the
NASA hospital when the attack happened.
I started by asking her what she saw.
>> I was with um five colleagues in the
intensive care unit at NASA hospital
visiting some of the patients that we
were following up with when there was a
huge explosion um very very close by and
then very quickly the emergency alarms
went off. everybody rushed into the
surgical unit which was adjacent to the
room I was in um to be able to assist um
with the injured people um and to
retrieve people from under the rubble.
So initially what we saw was a lot of
health care staff covered in blood and
in dust um coming out of the of the unit
and others rushing in to be able to to
try and assist. You might have seen the
Israeli Defense Force said they carried
out a strike in the area of NASA
hospital and said they're conducting an
initial inquiry. They regret any harm to
uninvolved individuals and does not
target journalists as such. As we know,
five journalists were killed in that
attack. What do you make of their
statement? Well, I think the evidence as
we've seen every day for the last 22
months would would really point to the
contrary. Um, we have seen a systematic
deliberate targeted dismantling and
destruction of the health care system in
Gaza. First and foremost, we've seen the
deliberate targeting of health care
staff. Um, and we've also seen the
targeting uh recently of journalists.
Um, and I think it's it's no coincidence
that there were four journalists who
appear to have been targeted in this
attack. Um, and any calls of regret or
expressions of regret by the Israelis,
um, I would question their, um,
veracity.
>> In previous attacks on hospitals by the
IDF, they've said that they've targeted
Hamas. From what you've seen on hospital
grounds, you've been there for a while.
Have you seen any evidence of Hamas
operating within this infrastructure?
>> I have not and neither have any of my
team and we support a number of the
units at NASA and we're there very very
frequently. Um the health care staff and
other aid workers around NASA hospital
are dedicated to be able to deliver
life-saving services. So we're not going
out asking people who they are or what
they're doing. But if there were
military activity, we wouldn't be
operating there because it wouldn't be
safe to be doing so. Um, so I haven't
seen it. And I think it's important to
note that these uh health facilities and
hospitals are legally protected and
therefore any military uh activity needs
to be enacted
under international law and in line with
the principles of proportionality and
distinction. And I think clearly that
isn't the case when we look at the
number of civilian casualties that is
rapidly increasing every day.
>> And Liz, I do wonder strikes like this,
what impact does that have on this
hospital to deliver care? What impact
has it had already?
>> Well, it's another devastating blow um
and another, I hate to say nail in the
coffin of the existence of the health
care sector here in Gaza. And NASA
hospital is the biggest um critical care
provider in the whole of the Gaza Strip.
It's 300% over capacity. Um we have a
lack of fuel, a lack of health care
staff, a lack of resources, of
medicines, of electricity, of of
sanitation equipment to clean the
hospitals. Um and so yet another
targeted attack um means that surgical
unit can't be used. Um the health care
staff that have been killed cannot
operate. Um, and the resolve of people
to go back to work every day is still
there, but you're taking your life into
your hands every single day. Um, and I
know healthcare staff say goodbye to
their families every morning that they
go to work because the likelihood is
more and more that they won't come home
and that has an extremely devastating
effect on the morale of the health care
staff and and the wider population.
>> Liz Or, thank you very much indeed for
your time. Thank you.
Thank you.
>> Well, Benjamin Netanyahu also said
tonight that Israel remained determined
to free all the hostages and defeat
Hamas. Let's get the latest from our
foreign affairs correspondent Sakmani
who joins me now from Tel Aviv. sack.
>> Well, Aisha, it's worth reiterating at
the outset that the reason we're talking
to you here from here in Israel and not
from Gaza, where we know and we feel
that we we should be alongside those
Palestinian journalists that we've been
hearing about is because Israel does not
allow independent access to uh Gaza for
foreign journalists. And so we like the
rest of the world are dependent on their
images for an insight into the into the
suffering there. Prime Minister
Netanyahu, as you said, have uh has
described today as a tragic mishap and
said that the Israeli state deeply uh
deeply regrets the killing of these
journalists. But Israel, Israeli forces
have repeatedly killed throughout this
war uh journalists in Gaza at really an
unprecedented rate. Now, the focus of
the Israel's latest offensive right now
is not in the south of the territory
where this incident took place, but
around Gaza City. uh that its outskirts
are currently being pummeled, including
by uh robotic vehicles laden with
explosives. The killings of these uh
journalists today, I think, will add to
international calls for Israel to pull
back from its stated aim of fully taking
uh control of Gaza City. Certainly, it's
something that most Israelis do not want
to see happen. They want to see a
hostage deal negotiated instead, and
another large day of protest is
scheduled for tomorrow. But none of this
seems to be having much of an impact on
Prime Minister Netanyahu. The one man
who does wield influence over him,
President Trump, he said he's not happy
with the killing of these journalists.
At the same time, in recent weeks, he's
made clear that uh he's standing firmly
beside the Israeli leader. See, thank
you very much.