Journalist with Independent Arabia among 20 killed in Gaza hospital missile strike

A double Israeli strike on one of the last hospitals in southern Gaza has killed five journalists, including a reporter with The Independent’s partner publication Independent Arabia.

- BEL TREW NEDAL HAMDOUNA

Maryam Abu Daqqa, 33, who worked for Independent Arabia and Associated Press, was killed alongside Al Jazeera camera operator Mohammed Salam, Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri, and freelance journalist Moaz Abu Taha.

Ahmed Abu Aziz, who worked for UK-based media outlet Middle East Eye, later died from his injuries, the organisation said.

Independent Arabia said it “mourns its courageous correspondent” Abu Daqqa, who left behind an 11-year-old son, saying she worked around the clock to cover the horrors unfolding in the besieged Gaza Strip. The publication also condemned Israel’s “flagrant violation of international laws that guarantee the protection of journalists”.

Israel said an inquiry had been opened into the strike, with the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying Israel deeply regretted what he sought to claim was a “tragic mishap”.

The photojournalist was among 20 people killed, and 50 injured yesterday in what witnesses described to The Independent as two missiles in quick succession slamming into the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis - the only partially functioning public hospital in the south of Gaza.

Rights groups and the United Nations have repeatedly accused Israel of targeting medical facilities and Palestinian journalists since it launched its unprecedented bombardment of Gaza in October 2023. More than 240 journalists have been killed since then - including five journalists just two weeks ago - according to rights group Amnesty International, making this the bloodiest conflict for reporters in modern history.

“We were shocked there was strikes hitting the fourth floor of the main surgical building. The journalists use that side to do their interviews or to broadcast from the area,” Khaled al-Serr, a leading Palestinian surgeon at Nasser Hospital, told