By Kareem Khadder, Abeer Salman, Tal Shalev, Oren Liebermann

(CNN) — Israel is facing fierce condemnation after a pair of strikes on a Gaza hospital killed five journalists as well as medical workers and others on Monday.

At least 20 people were killed in the attack on Monday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, with many more injured.

Israel carried out back-to-back strikes on the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis separated by only a matter of minutes, the ministry said. The “double-tap” hits killed journalists, health workers and emergency response crews who had rushed to the scene after the initial attack, the Nasser Hospital said.

Dr. Mohammad Saqer, a hospital spokesman and head of nursing, said that five journalists and four health workers had died.

The journalists killed are Mohammad Salama, a cameraman from Al Jazeera, Hussam Al-Masri, who was a contractor for Reuters, Mariam Abu Dagga, who has worked with the Associated Press (AP) and other outlets throughout the war, and freelance journalists Moath Abu Taha and Ahmed Abu Aziz.

Gaza’s Civil Defense organization said one of its crew members also died in the strike.

The Israeli attacks hit a balcony on the hospital used by reporters for an elevated view of Khan Younis.

A first strike on the hospital hit the fourth floor of Nasser Medical Complex, the health ministry said, followed by a second attack a short time later that hit ambulance crews and emergency responders.

Video from the scene shows Saqer holding up a blood-soaked cloth after the first strike when another explosion rocks the building, filling the air with smoke and sending people running for cover.

A live camera from Al Ghad TV shows emergency workers on a damaged staircase at the hospital when the second attack hits the building.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in an updated statement Monday evening that it “carried out a strike in the area of” the hospital. IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the military was “aware of reports that harm was caused to civilians, including journalists.” Defin said the military was operating in an “extremely complex reality.”

“The IDF does not intentionally target civilians,” Defrin insisted. “Any incident that raises concern in this regard is address by the relevant mechanisms in the IDF.” He blamed Hamas for using civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, as bases.

The military’s chief has instructed an initial inquiry to be opened as soon as possible, and Defrin said the military was obligated to investigate “thoroughly and professionally.”

An Israeli security official with knowledge of the details of that initial inquiry said IDF forces identified a camera on the roof of the hospital that they claimed was being used by Hamas to monitor the Israeli military.

The forces received authorization to strike the camera with a drone, the source said. But instead, Israeli forces fired two tank shells: the first at the camera and the second at rescue forces.

The details of the inquiry are a remarkable admission from an Israeli official that it intentionally targeted the first responders that arrived at the scene after the initial strike.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an admission that Israel had killed journalists and emergency responders, said that Israel “deeply regrets” what he called a “tragic mishap” at Nasser hospital. “Israel values the work of journalists, medical staff, and all civilians. The military authorities are conducting a thorough investigation.”

A ‘watershed moment’

Journalist organizations and international bodies reacted to the deaths with shock and anger.

The Foreign Press Association in Israel and the Palestinian Territories described the strikes as “among the deadliest Israeli attacks on journalists working for international media since the Gaza war began.”

“This has gone on far too long. Too many journalists in Gaza have been killed by Israel without justification. Israel continues to block international journalists from independent access to Gaza,” the organization added, saying it should be regarded as a “watershed moment.”

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the main UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said on social media that the strikes amounted to “silencing the last remaining voices reporting about children dying silently amid famine.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the killings of the journalists and medical workers, noting the “extreme risks” they face carrying out their work. His spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement that Guterres called for civilians including medical workers and journalists to be “protected at all times” and able to carry out their work “without interference, intimidation, or harm.” The UN chief also called for an impartial investigation into the killings.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate described the attack as a “heinous massacre perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces… which directly targeted media and journalistic crews,” while Doctors Without Borders (MSF) also condemned the strikes on the “only partially functioning public hospital in the south of Gaza.” The group’s emergency coordinator in Gaza Jerome Grimaud said some MSF staffers were “forced to shelter in the laboratory as Israel repeatedly struck the building amidst rescue efforts.”

In a separate attack on Monday, another journalist, Hassan Douhan, was killed by Israeli forces in Khan Younis, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, who said he “was shot by the occupation forces in his tent.” Douhan worked as the director of the investigative reporting department at Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, a newspaper in Gaza.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), before Monday Israel had killed 192 journalists since the start of the war in Gaza.

Jodie Ginsberg, the CPJ president, accused Israel of deliberately targeting a Reuters camera position. “First responders moved in, including journalists, and they were killed in the second attack,” she said in an interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson.

“So in both instances, it looks like Israel has committed unlawful killings, war crimes, both in the deliberate killing of the Reuters cameraman and in this so-called double tap attack,” Ginsberg added.

CNN profiled one of the victims, Abu Dagga, last year. Then 31 years old, she said: “We are covering the war on Gaza because this is our journalistic duty. It is entrusted upon us.”

At the time, Abu Dagga worked for the Independent Arabic. She also freelanced for AP since the war began. “We challenged the Israeli occupation. We challenged the difficult circumstances and the reality of this war, a genocidal war,” Abu Dagga told CNN in 2024.

AP said it was “shocked and saddened” to learn of Abu Dagga’s death along with several other journalists. Her 12-year-old son was evacuated from Gaza earlier in the war, the news agency said.

“(Abu) Dagga reported on Nasser Hospital doctors struggling to save children with no prior health issues who were wasting away from starvation,” AP said in a statement.

MSF said Abu Dagga was a photographer who frequently worked with the group, saying it was “heartbroken” by her death.

Al Jazeera condemned the killings as a “horrific crime” committed by Israeli forces who have “directly targeted and assassinated journalists.”

The network said in a statement: “The ongoing campaign by the Israeli occupation against journalists has violated all international norms and laws, amounting to war crimes under the Rome Statute and the Geneva Conventions, both of which strictly prohibit the deliberate targeting of civilians and journalists in conflict zones.”

In a statement, Hamas said: “The cowardly enemy aims to deter journalists from conveying the truth and covering war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and the catastrophic living conditions of our Palestinian people in Gaza.”

Two weeks ago, Israel killed several Al Jazeera journalists in a strike in Gaza City, including one of the network’s most prominent correspondents, Anas Al-Sharif. It came after the IDF accused Al-Sharif of being the leader of a Hamas rocket cell, an accusation he vehemently denied.

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