🇵🇸 Israeli Strike Hits Gaza’s Largest Hospital, 19 Killed Including Journalists

 

A deadly Israeli missile strike tore through Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza on Monday, killing 19 people-including four journalists-deepening alarm over attacks on medical facilities and media workers in the 22-month war.

Zig Diaries Irael |Gaza Conflict

Date: Monday, 25 August 2025
Time: 12:30 WAT
Location: 📍 Khan Younis, Gaza Strip

The deaths included Associated Press freelancer Mariam Dagga and journalists from Al Jazeera and Reuters, underlining the staggering toll on media professionals—192 killed since the war began, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Health officials in Gaza said the fourth floor of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis was struck twice in succession, with the second missile hitting moments after rescuers arrived. Zaher al-Waheid, head of the Health Ministry’s records department, confirmed that 19 were killed in the strike.

Nasser Hospital, the largest in southern Gaza, has endured raids and bombardments throughout the war, with staff struggling to cope amid chronic shortages of supplies, fuel, and personnel. It has become a frontline lifeline for thousands, treating malnourished children and civilians wounded in bombardments.

Among the victims was 33-year-old visual journalist Mariam Dagga, who had reported from Nasser since the beginning of the war, documenting doctors’ efforts to save starving children. Al Jazeera confirmed Mohammed Salam was killed in the strike, while Reuters reported its contractor cameraman Hussam al-Masri died and its photographer Hatem Khaled was wounded.

The Israeli Defence Forces did not immediately respond to questions about the attack. Israeli officials have frequently claimed that militants use hospitals as cover, justifying strikes on medical compounds—a claim strongly denied by Palestinian health authorities and humanitarian groups.

Journalists Under Fire
The strike has thrown fresh light on the extreme risks facing reporters in Gaza. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 192 journalists have been killed in the territory since the war began, the highest death toll for media workers in any modern conflict. That figure surpasses losses recorded in Iraq and Syria over decades. Most of the dead are local freelancers, often without protective gear, who document the war from hospitals, refugee camps, and bombed neighbourhoods.

Mariam Dagga’s death underscores that reality. A freelancer for the Associated Press, she became one of the most visible chroniclers of Nasser Hospital’s daily struggles. Her reporting captured children brought in emaciated from hunger, doctors collapsing from exhaustion, and families queueing for hours in the hope of medicine.

International newsrooms say they rely heavily on these frontline freelancers to provide coverage, as foreign correspondents are barred from entering Gaza without Israeli approval. For many families, this has turned every journalist’s death into both a personal tragedy and a collective silencing of Gaza’s voice to the outside world.

Continuing Strikes
The Nasser Hospital bombardment came just days after Israeli warplanes hit a camp for displaced families near Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah. That strike destroyed about 100 tents sheltering people already uprooted from northern Gaza, though no casualties were immediately reported.

Fact-Check & Background Context

Nasser Hospital is Gaza’s second-largest medical facility after Al-Shifa and has been repeatedly targeted or raided during the conflict. 

International humanitarian law prohibits attacks on hospitals unless they are being used for military purposes. 

Israel insists militants embed within medical compounds, while rights groups argue the strikes amount to the systematic destruction of Gaza’s health system.

The toll on journalists is unprecedented. CPJ has verified 192 deaths in less than two years, with local reporters bearing the heaviest losses. 

For comparison, Iraq saw 150 journalist deaths over two decades, and Syria about 120 since 2011. 

The Gaza war has now become the deadliest single conflict for the media in modern history.

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