President Donald Trumpsaid he is "not happy" aboutIsraeli strikeson a hospital in Gaza that killed at least 20 people on Monday, including five journalists and medical workers. Video of the incident taken from a live shot on Egyptian television, and verified byReuters, shows an explosion hitting rescue workers who were searching for survivors at the scene of an earlier strike at theNasser hospital in Khan Younis. Medics and rescue workers who had rushed to help people injured in the first strike were killed in the second strike, along with journalists reporting on the incident, hospital officials told Reuters. "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. Read more:Israeli Strike Kills Al Jazeera's Anas al-Sharif, Who Left a Final Message from Gaza 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 toMiddle 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,"saidIsrael 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. 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,according to the United Nations. It comes two weeks after Israel killed four Al Jazeera journalists in atargeted strike in Gaza City. French President Emmanuel Macron joined international condemnation of the strike. "This is intolerable: civilians and journalists must be protected in all circumstances. The media must be able to carry out their mission freely and independently to cover the reality of the conflict," he said. Sara Qudah, CPJ's regional director, condemned the strikes, saying that Israel's "killing of journalists in Gaza continues while the world watches and fails to act firmly on the most horrific attacks the press has ever faced in recent history." "These murders must end now. The perpetrators must no longer be allowed to act with impunity," she added. The war was triggered after the Hamas terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages. More than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Health Ministry. The IDF's own data suggests aPalestinian civilian death rate of 83%. In the absence of independent monitoring on the ground, Gaza's Health Ministry is the primary source for casualty data relied upon by humanitarian groups, journalists, and international bodies. Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants and cannot be independently verified by TIME. Contact usatletters@time.com.
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