Israeli military kills 5 Gaza journalists it says were militants

An Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed five journalists working for an outlet affiliated with the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, health authorities and media reports said Thursday.

In a statement, the Israeli military said the five men were in an “Islamic Jihad terrorist cell … posing as journalists.” The strike hit their vehicle, a white van marked with the word “press,” as it was parked outside al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza, the local health ministry said.

The journalists worked for al-Quds Today, a satellite news channel associated with Islamic Jihad, which is allied with Hamas. The channel has featured interviews with the militant group’s leaders and has broadcast daily coverage of the war. In a statement, the outlet described the strike as a massacre and said the men “were killed as they carried out their media and humanitarian duty,” Reuters reported.

The Israeli military said it had “intelligence from multiple sources” indicating the men were Islamic Jihad operatives. It released an altered image of what it said was a “list” its troops found in Gaza that identified four of the men as members, but it did not publicly provide any other evidence.

Among the men on the list were Fadi Hassouna and Ayman al-Jadi, whom the military described as “combat propagandists.” The statement did not say that the men were engaged in militant activity at the time of the strike.

Jadi maintained a large following on social media, including Instagram, where he posted interviews with Palestinians and footage of war’s destruction. In a recent video, he said his pregnant wife was staying inside al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in central Gaza. His colleagues in Gaza said the al-Quds Today broadcast van was parked there because Jadi was waiting for the baby to be born, and on Thursday evening local time, she gave birth to a boy.

The Israeli military has said it does not purposely target journalists but has accused some reporters and media workers in Gaza of having ties to militant groups.

In a statement, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, which is based in the West Bank, accused Israel of targeting media professionals.

The war in Gaza has been devastating for journalists and other media workers, with at least 141 killed, making it the deadliest period for journalists since the Committee to Protect Journalists began gathering data in 1992. Most of those killed were Palestinian journalists in Gaza.