This was the latest Israeli aggression, which outraged the international community due to the loss of lives caused by the use of the double-tap policy by Israel on the Gaza Nasser Hospital, where people are being treated. The two unsuccessful attacks, thus taking place back-to-back and only a few minutes apart, were clearly targeted at first responders and healthcare professionals who attended to the victims.
The two-tap hack tries to crack journalists and first responders
Israel then conducted back-to-back airstrikes on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Monday, with the latter deliberately attacking first responders and medical personnel as well as journalists who had arrived at the site following the initial strike. The attacks resulted in the death of the Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri, a contractor, and cameramen with Al Jazeera, the Associated Press, and others.
The strikes demolished a hospital balcony where journalists had gathered to get a vantage point of Khan Younis, CNN relates. A video shot in the exterior of a hospital depicts hospital spokesman, Dr. Mohammad Saqer, with a blood-stained cloth in his hand, as another explosion trembles and people scamper to take shelter inside the building.
How Israel admitted to questioning first responders
An Israeli security official familiar with the initial investigation disclosed later that IDF troops detected a camera on the top of the hospital that they saw as being used by Hamas. The instances when Israeli troops have fired tank shells instead of using a drone as permitted, and aimed directly at the camera as a first strike, and then a second shell at rescuers demonstrate one of the most important aspects of the truth: Israeli forces have no intention of truthful reporting, but rather aims and directs all their thrust at ensuring that the camera is incapable of filming, and that whatever follows will not be able to protect the camera.
The world is up in arms against Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the deaths as a tragic mishap, as the Israeli military had confirmed attacking the area of the hospital and ordered an inquiry. There was sharp international criticism in which many stated that this amounted to targeting of civilians who were under protection.
Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait also condemned the bombings. Immediately, the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, insisted on the need to safeguard the lives of civilians, including medical staff and foreign journalists at all times, and to conduct an independent investigation into the deaths.
The Foreign Press Association in Israel and the Palestinian Territories stated that the strikes were among the bloodiest Israeli actions against journalists working in the foreign media since the war in Gaza started. Top Reuters and AP executives wrote jointly to Israeli authorities, insisting on transparent and prompt accountability, and raising a question mark over the possibility of a meaningful IDF investigation of its own.
Intentional targeting of journalists can be an issue of war crimes
The Committee to Protect Journalists wrote that before Monday, Israel had killed 192 journalists since withdrawing from a war in October 2023. In a report published, CPJ President Jodie Ginsberg accused Israel of knowingly attacking a Reuters camera position and seemingly engaging in unlawful killings and war crimes in both its strikes in an initial assault and a subsequent follow-up strike, also known as a double-tap attack.
Willful use of force in the shooting of journalists and first responders at Nasser Hospital is an ominous step forward in Israel’s systematic targeting of press freedom and civilians under protection. The international will to sustain Israel’s action against those in Gaza is now to some extent in question, and this attack could significantly change the world policy towards the government of Israel.