Israeli strike on media tent outside Gaza hospital kills and wounds journalists

Israel struck a media tent outside a hospital in the Gaza Strip on Monday, killing two people, including a local reporter, and wounding six other journalists, medics said.

Twenty-eight other people were killed in separate strikes, according to hospitals.

Israel has carried out waves of strikes across Gaza and ground forces have carved out new military zones since it ended its ceasefire with Hamas last month.

Israel has barred the import of food, fuel, medicine and humanitarian aid for well over a month as it seeks to pressure Hamas to accept changes to the truce agreement they reached in January.

The strike outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis at around 2:00am set the media tent ablaze, killing Yousef Al Faqawi, a reporter for the Palestine Today news website, and another man, according to the hospital.

Footage showed people trying to douse flames in the tent, inside the compound of the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, during the early hours of Monday.

Reuters was able to verify the video from the position, layout and design of nearby buildings and tents.

The date could be verified by media reports and corroborating videos. Other footage posted on social media but not verified by Reuters appeared to show the tent had been burned to the ground, along with the furniture and equipment inside it.

Images appearing to show a journalist in flames, and another person trying to rescue him, were widely shared.

Israel also struck tents on the edge of Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir Al Balah, wounding three people, according to the hospital.

A mourner reacts next to the bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza on Monday. Reuters

Nasser Hospital said it received another 13 bodies, including six women and four children, from separate strikes overnight. Al Aqsa Hospital said two people were killed and three wounded in a strike on a home in Deir al-Balah.

Israel has carried out waves of strikes across Gaza and ground forces have carved out new military zones since it ended its ceasefire with Hamas last month. Israel has barred the import of food, fuel, medicine and humanitarian aid since the beginning of March.

Thousands of people have sheltered in tents set up inside hospital compounds throughout the 18-month war, assuming Israel would be less likely to target them.

Palestinians say they do not want to leave their homeland, and human rights experts have warned that implementing the Trump proposal would likely amount to mass expulsion in violation of international law.

Associated Press / Reuters