Five journalists from Gaza were killed in an Israeli strike against armed groups

A Palestinian television station says five of its journalists were killed in an Israeli strike in the central Gaza Strip.

They were in a van Quds Today parked outside al-Awda hospital, where the wife of one of the journalists is about to give birth, in the central Nuseirat refugee camp.

The station posted a video showing a burning car with “press” written on the back doors.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was targeting “Islamic Jihad operatives posing as journalists” and that measures had been taken to avoid harming civilians.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it was “deeply saddened by these reports”.

“Journalists are citizens and must always be protected,” said the statement.

The BBC has not been able to verify the claims made by both sides, as international media are prevented by Israel from entering and working freely on the ground in Gaza.

Quds Today is affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), an armed group that participated in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. An unprecedented attack started the war in Gaza. The television station is believed to be receiving funding from the group.

The Israeli army named the five killed as Ibrahim Jamal Ibrahim Al-Sheikh Ali; Faisal Abdallah Muhammad Abu Qamsan; Mohammed Ayad Khamis al-Ladaa; Ayman Nihad Abd Alrahman Jadi; and Fadi Ihab Muhammad Ramadan Hassouna.

It said “intelligence from multiple sources confirmed” that they were all PIJ operatives, and that a list obtained during the operation in Gaza “clearly identified four” of them as such.

In a statement, Quds Today said the men “were killed while doing their work in the media and helping people”.

As of December 20, at least 133 Palestinian journalists have been killed during the war, making it the deadliest conflict for journalists, according to CPJ.

A press freedom organization has called for accountability for Palestinian journalists targeted by Israeli forces.

In another incident, the director of the Kamal Adwan hospital in the northern outskirts of Gaza said that five of its employees were killed in an Israeli strike. A pediatrician and two paramedics were among them.

At least five more people were reported killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza City on Wednesday.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa, and the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, also said another 20 people were injured in the suburb of al-Zeitoun.

The Israeli military did not comment on the reported bombing.

Meanwhile the father of a two-week-old Palestinian girl has told the BBC how his baby daughter collapsed and died in a tent in Gaza – the third child in a week to die in similar circumstances.

Mahmoud Ismail Al-Faseeh said he woke up in the freezing cold to find his daughter, Sila, convulsed. He was rushed to the hospital but died of hypothermia, the head of children’s health at Nasser Khan Younis Hospital told the Associated Press.

The family was sheltered in al-Mawasi on the Gaza coast, a strip of land designated by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as a humanitarian zone but hit by airstrikes.

Ahmed al-Farra, head of the pediatric unit, said two other children – one three days old and one month old – were brought in 48 hours ago after dying of hypothermia.

Hopes for progress on an armistice in recent days have begun to dwindle as Hamas and Israel clash.

Hamas has accused the Israeli government of imposing “new conditions” that it says are delaying the deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the group is withdrawing from the understanding that has been reached regarding the possibility of an end to the fighting.

The latest statements mark a significant change in tone on both sides following promising signs.

The Israeli military launched airstrikes and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas attacks last year. About 1,200 people were killed in the attack and another 251 were returned to Gaza as hostages.

More than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed during the Israeli attack, said the Gaza Health Ministry. About two million people – 90 percent of the population – have been displaced, according to the UN.

Additional reporting by Jaroslav Lukiv.