- CPJ condemns attack on Al-Ahly Baptist Hospital courtyard
LONDON: Three journalists were killed and four were wounded in an Israeli strike on the courtyard of the Al-Ahli Baptist hospital in central Gaza, drawing condemnation from media rights groups.
The Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate said the attack took place at a media tent and named the victims as Ismail Badakh, a cameraman for the Palestine Today television channel linked to the Islamic Jihad militant group, Soliman Hajjaj, editor of Palestine Today, and Samir A-Refai of the Shams News network.
The strike injured 30 people, including four journalists. Among them were Imad Daloul, a correspondent for Palestine Today, and Ahmed Qalya, a cameraman for Qatar's Al-Araby TV, both of whom are reported to be in critical condition.
The syndicate accused Israel of a “full-scale war crime” that “reflects a deliberate and systematic policy aimed at suppressing the Palestinian point of view.” It said the attack on the journalists “in the hospital compound constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions.”
The Israeli military said in a statement that the strike targeted “an Islamic Jihad terrorist operating in a command and control center” in the hospital courtyard, without providing details or evidence.
In a statement on Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the attack, calling for international action to stop Israel from targeting journalists “based on baseless terrorism charges.”
CPJ regional director Sarah Kudah said: “These are not isolated incidents, but systematic Israeli attacks on the media. This disturbing and deliberate pattern must stop.
“The killing of journalists in the hospital courtyard on the holy day of Yawm al-Arafat, which precedes Eid al-Adha, highlights the ongoing danger facing the media in Gaza.”
