NEW YORK (AP) — Two main information companies demanded that Israel clarify what occurred throughout a strike on a hospital in Gaza final month that killed 5 journalists, calling for concrete actions and accountability to make sure it doesn’t occur once more.
Reuters and The Related Press — by their high editors, Alessandra Galloni and Julie Tempo — urged the Israeli authorities to “explain the deaths of these journalists and to take every step to protect those who continue to cover this conflict.” Their assertion got here on the one-month anniversary of the strike.
Killed within the strikes have been 5 journalists, together with visible journalist Mariam Dagga, who labored for AP and different information organizations; Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri; and Moaz Abu Taha, a contract journalist whose work had been printed by Reuters. Seventeen others have been killed within the strike.
“We renew our demand for a clear account from the Israeli authorities and urge the government to uphold its obligations to ensure press freedom and protection,” the assertion from the AP and Reuters stated. “We remain devastated and outraged by their deaths.”
The journalists died on the Nasser Hospital, which the companies identified is a location protected beneath worldwide regulation and “widely known to be crucial for news coverage out of Gaza.”
“An incident of this gravity requires a prompt and clear explanation, followed by accountability and concrete actions to ensure such attacks are never repeated,” the assertion stated.
The 2 companies wrote a joint letter instantly after the assault, however that Israel has not responded. The Israeli army stated it launched an investigation into the incident.
The Gaza struggle has been lethal for these overlaying it. Practically 200 journalists and media staff have been killed within the area because the assaults by Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in accordance with the Committee to Defend Journalists. Comparatively, 18 journalists have been killed to date in Russia’s struggle in Ukraine, in accordance with the CPJ.
AP reporting on the assault on the hospital raised critical questions on Israel’s rationale for the strikes and the best way they have been carried out.
The companies’ assertion was issued a day earlier than Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was scheduled to deal with the U.N. Normal Meeting throughout its annual leaders’ assembly.
Dagga, 33, was among the many struggle’s victims. She and the 4 different reporters have been killed when Israeli forces struck Nasser Hospital within the Gaza city of Khan Younis, together with 17 different individuals.
The Israeli army stated it focused what it believed was a Hamas surveillance digital camera within the hospital assault, with out offering proof, and that the journalists weren’t the targets. The prime minister known as the assault a ‘“mishap.’’
