Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinian journalists killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike in Al Nuseirat refugee camp, at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al Balah, central Gaza Strip, on Thursday. Photo by Mohammed Saber/EPA-EFE
Dec. 26 (UPI) — A Palestinian television channel said an Israeli air strike killed five of its journalists in the central region of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, but the Israel Defense Forces said it targeted Islamic Jihad operatives posing as journalists.
Al Quds Today said one of its vans, marked “Press,” was attacked outside al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp, one of the few operating hospitals left in Gaza. The news organization said a wife of one of the journalists was giving birth at the hospital when the attacked took place.
The IDF called it an attack on operatives of the Islamic Jihad and officials said steps had been taken to avoid harming civilians. Israel military spokesman Nadav Shoshani said that reports that the IDF targeted journalists was a “fake claim.”
Al Quds Today identified its staffers as Faisal Abu Al-Qumsan, Fadi Hassouna, Ibrahim Al-Sheikh Ali, Ayman Al-Jadi and Mohammed Al-Lada’a.
The IDF said that it does not target journalists but considers anyone who is a member of an “organized armed group” that is participating in hostilities as lawful targets. Al Quds said its managing editor Wael Abu-Fanounah was killed last January in an Israel attack.
IDF said Abu-Fabounah was a senior member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and ignored mentioning his connection with the television channel.
The Israeli military in October accused some members of the international news organization Al Jazeera of being fighters for Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. Al Jazeera has pushed back against the allegation.
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