Outrage after Israel kills five journalists in ‘double-tap’ attack on Gaza hospital

[Right_in_Virginia]

Outrage after Israel kills five journalists in ‘double-tap’ attack on Gaza hospital
CNN, Aug 25, 2025

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, 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.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later conceded that journalists and first responders had been killed, referring to their deaths as a “tragic mishap.”

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


More:  https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/25/middleeast/more-than-dozen-killed-israeli-strikes-gaza-hospital-journalists-intl

[Timber Rattler]

Sorry but no outrage here.   

[Canuck Conservative]

We've all been lied-to so many times by the Palestinians, let's wait a bit for the real truth to come out ...

For all we know, they might be their own people that they whacked for being "Israeli collaborators", then pass off as being bombing victims

(*has happened before!)

[mountaineer]

Lots of "journalists" in Gaza. 

[Wingnut]

Journalists  in Gaza.   Oh boy.  Sounds like a riotous killing.

[Cyber Liberty]

Lots of "journalists" in Gaza. 

All Hamas by some odd coinky dink.

[Sighlass]

Play it again Sam (3X)...

[cato potatoe]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later conceded that journalists and first responders had been killed, referring to their deaths as a “tragic mishap.”

 

[Right_in_Virginia]

Trump Condemns Israeli Strike That Hit Gaza Hospital, Killing Journalists and Medics
Time, Aug 25, 2025

President Donald Trump said he is “not happy” about Israeli strikes on a hospital in Gaza that killed at least 20 people on Monday, including five journalists and medical workers.

The hospital was hit by two strikes minutes apart, with the second blast killing medics and rescue workers who had rushed to help people injured in the first, hospital officials told Reuters. Journalists who were covering the attack on the hospital were killed as they worked.

“I’m not happy about it. I don't want to see it. At the same time, we have to end that whole nightmare. I'm the one that got the hostages out,” Trump said in the Oval Office when asked by a reporter about the strike.

Video of the incident taken from a live shot on Egyptian television, and verified by Reuters, shows the strike hitting rescue workers as they search through the rubble of an upper floor at the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.

The journalists killed included Mariam Abu Dagga, a freelance journalist who worked for the Associated Press; Mohammed Salama, who worked for Al Jazeera; Moaz Abu Taha, a freelance journalist who worked with several news organisations, including Reuters; and Ahmed Abu Aziz, a contributor to Middle East Eye.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the airstrike a “tragic mishap,” and claimed that Israel “values the work of journalists, medical staff and all civilians.”

The Israeli army acknowledged striking the area. “We are aware of reports that harm was caused to civilians, including journalists,” said Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Effie Defrin, adding that the incident would be subject to an immediate inquiry.

“The IDF does not intentionally target civilians. The IDF acts to mitigate harm to uninvolved individuals as much as possible while maintaining the safety of IDF troops,” he added.

Israeli media reported that the IDF had fired two artillery shells at the hospital to target a surveillance camera on the roof.

At least 192 journalists have been killed in Gaza in the 22-month conflict, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)—189 of them Palestinians. The war has been even more deadly for health workers: more than 1,500 have been killed by Israel's strikes in Gaza, according to the United Nations.

It comes two weeks after Israel killed four Al Jazeera journalists in a targeted strike in Gaza City.


https://time.com/7312053/gaza-trump-nasser-hospital-strike-journalists-killed/

[txradioguy]

I've seen how intertwined these "Journalists" are with the enemy.  This is no big loss and I say that as a journalist myself.


I'm old enough to remember the Iraqi "journalist" working for CBS in Baghdad that was at the scene of a car bombing and when he was detained tested positive for explosives residue on his hands.

[mountaineer]

Israel Defense Forces
@IDF
An initial inquiry regarding the strike on the observation camera at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, which occurred yesterday (Monday), August 25th, 2025, was presented to the Chief of the General Staff, LTG Eyal Zamir, by the Commander of the Southern Command, MG Yaniv Asor, today (Tuesday).

From an initial inquiry, it appears that Golani Brigade troops, operating in the area of Khan Yunis to dismantle terrorist infrastructure, identified a camera that was positioned by Hamas in the area of the Nasser Hospital that was being used to observe the activity of IDF troops, in order to direct terrorist activities against them. This conclusion was further supported, among other reasons, by the documented military use of hospitals by the terrorist organizations throughout the war, and by intelligence confirming Hamas’ use of the Nasser Hospital to carry out terrorist activities since the start of the war.

In light of this, the troops operated to remove the threat by striking and dismantling the camera and the inquiry showed that the troops operated to remove the threat.

The Chief of the General Staff received the initial conclusions that were presented and instructed that the inquiry be completed.

At the outset, the Chief of the General Staff emphasized that the enemy conducts extensive and covert visual-intelligence gathering while cynically exploiting sensitive sites and civilian infrastructure, such as the Nasser Hospital, from which it carries out terrorist activities against IDF troops.

The Chief of the General Staff added that six of the individuals killed were terrorists, one of whom took part in the infiltration into Israeli territory on October 7th. At the same time, the Chief of the General Staff regrets any harm caused to civilians.

The Chief of the General Staff instructed to further examine several gaps:

Firstly, a further examination of the authorization process prior to the strike, including the ammunition approved for the strike and the timing of the authorization.

Secondly, an examination of the decision making process in the field.

The Chief of the General Staff emphasized that the IDF directs its activities solely toward military targets.
11:31 AM · Aug 26, 2025

[verga]

Lots of "journalists" in Gaza. 

Did they all have aprons that said "Baby Milk"?

[Right_in_Virginia]

Israel Defense Forces
@IDF
An initial inquiry regarding the strike on the observation camera at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, which occurred yesterday (Monday), August 25th, 2025, was presented to the Chief of the General Staff, LTG Eyal Zamir, by the Commander of the Southern Command, MG Yaniv Asor, today (Tuesday).

From an initial inquiry, it appears that Golani Brigade troops, operating in the area of Khan Yunis to dismantle terrorist infrastructure, identified a camera that was positioned by Hamas in the area of the Nasser Hospital that was being used to observe the activity of IDF troops, in order to direct terrorist activities against them. This conclusion was further supported, among other reasons, by the documented military use of hospitals by the terrorist organizations throughout the war, and by intelligence confirming Hamas’ use of the Nasser Hospital to carry out terrorist activities since the start of the war.

In light of this, the troops operated to remove the threat by striking and dismantling the camera and the inquiry showed that the troops operated to remove the threat.

"If this claim was true, there are many means to neutralize this camera without targeting a health care facility with a tank shell,” Bassem Naim, a member of the group’s political bureau, said, noting that if there was a camera, the IDF could have contacted the hospital staff to ask it to take it down.

https://www.nbcnews.com/world/israel/israel-gaza-war-nasser-hospital-double-tap-strike-journalists-killed-rcna227172

[Right_in_Virginia]

What is a 'double tap,' and why has Israel's use of it outraged so many?
Israel bombed a Gaza hospital, waited 7 minutes and then bombed it again, killing people who rushed to help. It's not the first time that has happened.
NBC News,  Aug 26, 2025

It has become an all-too-familiar scene: first responders, medics and journalists rushing to the site of an Israeli attack. But this time, as they rallied to a shattered stairwell at Nasser Hospital bearing stretchers and cameras, Israel struck again — compounding the scene of carnage and enveloping those trying to aid and document.

Global outcry mounted Tuesday over this “double tap” strike on Gaza’s largest remaining medical center, which was caught on video by the Arabic-language channel Al Ghad TV and others who were recording rescue efforts from the first missile when the second struck.

At least 20 people were killed, including five journalists who had worked for various outlets, including The Associated Press, Reuters and Al Jazeera.

[...]

Israel has barred Western news organizations from entering Gaza, save for occasional tours chaperoned by the Israel Defense Forces, leaving them to rely on Palestinian journalists inside the enclave. The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based nonprofit press freedom group, says 192 journalists have been killed during the war and 90 more have been detained in what it describes as “the most horrific attacks the press has ever faced in recent history.”

What is it?

This is not the first time Israel has conducted a “double tap” strike, hitting the same target twice in quick succession.

Double-taps have been deployed deliberately in the past by terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda and Nigeria’s Boko Haram, which would send second suicide bombers to kill those trying to help victims of the first ones.

The phrase “double tap” is not an official legal term and does not appear in the Geneva Convention, but intentionally striking people known to be “protected persons,” such as medics, “implies the allegation of a war crime,” said Janina Dill, a professor at the University of Oxford, in England, and co-director of the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict.

The tactic of double-tap strikes is irreconcilable with the conduct of a professional, legally advised and trained military force,” Dill told NBC News, and no such “fighting force should be reasonably accusable of double-tap strikes.”

The “larger moral issue,” she said in an email, was that it was “particularly pernicious to exploit individuals’ willingness of discharging their moral duties of rescue (helping those affected by the first strike) in order to kill them.” She added that “double-tap strikes therefore do not only imply that a war crime is committed, but the tactic should also be reviled and morally condemned.”

Few if any militaries admit to using double-tap strikes as an overt tactic, and Israel is not the only country alleged to have done so. In 2012, the Bureau for Investigative Journalism found that from 2009 to 2012, CIA drone strikes in Pakistan killed at least 50 civilians “in follow-up strikes when they had gone to help victims.”

Last month, the left-leaning Israeli publication +972 Magazine published an investigation, including interviews with Israeli security sources, that found double-tap strikes had become “standard procedure in Gaza” during the war.

In a statement on X, the IDF said an initial inquiry found that troops had identified a camera at the hospital "that was being used to observe the activity of IDF troops, in order to direct terrorist activities against them." It added that "troops operated to remove the threat by striking and dismantling the camera."

The statement, which did not address the second strike on the facility, also said the chief of the general staff had ordered an investigation of "several gaps," including the "authorization process" before the bombing, including for the ammunition used and the timing.

[...]

A senior Hamas official told NBC News that the group was not operating a camera in the vicinity of the hospital.

“If this claim was true, there are many means to neutralize this camera without targeting a health care facility with a tank shell,” Bassem Naim, a member of the group’s political bureau, said, noting that if there was a camera, the IDF could have contacted the hospital staff to ask it to take it down.

The first strike, just after 10 a.m. local time (3 a.m. ET), hit the upper floors of Nasser Hospital, where doctors, patients and trainees were in the operating department, according to the hospital’s director, Dr. Mohammed Zakout.

At the time, a number of journalists were climbing the stairs, as they often did, to get a signal to file their reports and contact their families, according to witnesses. Killed in that initial strike was Reuters cameraman Hussam Al-Masri, who the news agency said was operating a live TV shot on the hospital’s upper floors at the time.

Hatem Omar, 42, was one of the journalists who then rushed to the scene. “I climbed the staircase; a large number of journalists and medics were with me on the stairs,” he told reporters. “Then the second strike happened.”

Ibrahim al Qanan, who was live on Al Ghad TV when it recorded the second strike, said timestamps on the video showed that there was 7 minutes between explosions. Responders waited a few minutes after the first hit before they raced up the stairs, he said, only to be caught in the second blast.

The video showed eight men on an external stairwell, three wearing orange high-visibility vests, one a yellow helmet and one carrying a camera. A few of them were gesturing to someone off-camera when the image filled with smoke and debris, accompanied by a loud bang and screams. Dozens of people then began running from the scene, now bathed in smoke.

“I witnessed blood everywhere at the site,” Omar said. “The staircase outside the hospital was filled with medics, filled with civilians, filled with people rushing to help, and the place was clouded with dust.”

“The second blast turned the area into a silent, frozen scene, as if the chests of everyone there had been crushed.”

Outside, the fallen journalists — Hussam Al-Masri, Mariam Dagga, Mohammad Salama, Ahmed Abu Aziz and Moaz Abu Taha — were laid side by side, still adorned with their cameras and blood-spattered vests bearing the word “PRESS.”


More:  https://www.nbcnews.com/world/israel/israel-gaza-war-nasser-hospital-double-tap-strike-journalists-killed-rcna227172