The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced today that they bombed a hospital in the Gaza Strip, which they said was being used for “terrorist activities“ by the Islamist movement “Hamas“. It, in turn, reported the death of a journalist previously accused by Israel of participating in the attack on October 7, 2023, Agence France-Presse reported, BTA reported.
After a pause in the fighting due to the release last night of the hostage with American and Israeli citizenship Eden Alexander, the IDF indicated today on “Telegram“ that they had struck a “command and control center located in the “Nasser“ hospital and Khan Yunis“, in the southern Palestinian territory.
“Senior Hamas officials continue to use the hospital for terrorist activities, cynically and brutally exploiting the civilian population in the hospital and its surroundings,“ the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) added.
Later, the Hamas government said in a statement that the strike on the hospital “caused the deaths of patients“, without specifying the number.
It accused Israel of killing journalist Hassan Aslih, who was presented as the director of the Palestinian news agency Alam 24.
“The Israeli army bombed the surgical ward of the “Nasr“ hospital today in Khan Younis and killed journalist Hassan Aslih, who worked for several local and Arab organizations and several agencies," Gaza Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told AFP.
According to the authorities of “Hamas“ In Gaza, Hassan Aslih was receiving treatment at the facility after being wounded in an Israeli strike on a tent used by journalists nearby on April 7.
According to the same source, two other journalists were killed at the time: Hilmi al-Fakawi, who worked for a news agency, and Ahmed Mansour, an employee of the Palestine Today agency, a media outlet close to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement.
At the time, the Israeli army announced that it had targeted Hassan Abdel Fattah Mohammed Aslih, whom it described as a "terrorist operating under the guise of a journalist and head of a press office".
According to the Israeli army, Aslih "took part in the attack on October 7 and filmed and broadcast on social media killings, robberies and arson".
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the attack and said that Aslich worked for several international media outlets until 2023, when an Israeli organization published a selfie of him with “Hamas“ leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in October last year during an Israeli operation.
According to CPJ data, at least 178 journalists have been killed since the start of the war in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and Lebanon, AFP reports.