Protests unfurl across Israel after hospital attack in Gaza

Families of hostages block highways as outrage mounts over missile strikes that killed 20 people including five journalists

- STEFFIE BANATVALA, ALEX CROFT

Israel is facing global condemnation after Monday's deadly attack on a hospital in Gaza, as protests calling for a ceasefire swept the country, led by families of hostages taken by Hamas. The victims who died on the fourth floor of Nasser Hospital were killed in a double-tap strike, with one missile hitting first, then another moments later as rescue crews arrived, a witness told The Independent.

The attack, in which five journalists were killed - including Maryam Abu Daqqa, who worked for The Independent’s sister site Independent Arabia - was among the deadliest to have hit journalists over the course of the war. The US, the European Union, Canada, Britain, Egypt, China, France, and Spain denounced the attack, while Germany called for an investigation.

The Israeli military said after its initial investigation that the strike had been intended to take out a Hamas surveillance camera, along with several people it claimed were militants belonging to the group. The military said it had established that none of the five journalists killed were among the six Hamas targets it says were killed in the two strikes, and that the journalists were not suspected of being militants. The military claimed that they were not the target of the strikes.