KHAN YUNIS – Israel’s military said it struck a Gaza hospital housing militants, in a raid on Tuesday that, according to Hamas, killed a journalist being treated after an Israeli attack last month.
“The compound was used by the terrorists to plan and execute terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF (army) troops,” it said.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the strike killed two people and wounded several others, while the Hamas government media office said journalist Hassan Aslih was “assassinated”.
Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the Gaza civil defence agency, said that “the Israeli army bombed the surgery building at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis at dawn on Tuesday, killing journalist Hassan Aslih”.
Aslih, head of the Alam24 news outlet, had been at the hospital for treatment after being wounded in a strike on April 7, according to Ismail al-Thawabtah, director general of the Hamas media office.
Two other journalists, Ahmed Mansur and Hilmi al-Faqaawi, were killed in that bombing that hit a media tent, it was reported at the time.
The Israeli military said the April strike had targeted Aslih, alleging he operated for Hamas “under the guise of a journalist”.
The Committee to Protect Journalists had condemned the attack.
AFP footage from Nasser Hospital after Tuesday’s strike showed smoke rising from the facility as rescuers searched through the rubble to the light of torches.
A hospital worker who gave his name as Abu Ghali said the Israeli bombardment “does not differentiate between civilians and military targets”.
“This is a civilian hospital that receives injured people around the clock,” he told AFP.
Israel had paused military operations in Gaza to allow for the release of Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old US-Israeli soldier who had been held hostage since October 2023.
Alexander, believed to be the last surviving hostage with US citizenship, was released Monday ahead of a Middle East visit by US President Donald Trump.
Israel resumed its military offensive in Gaza on March 18 after a two-month truce in its war against Hamas, which was triggered by the Palestinian group’s October 7 attack.
The attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Monday at least 2,749 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign, bringing the overall death toll since the war broke out to 52,862. – AFP
