Israel says strikes targeted Hamas camera

Attacks that killed 5 Gaza journalists were aimed at surveillance device and militants, the military asserts

- WAFAA SHURAFA, MELANIE LIDMAN AND SAMY MAGDY

PALESTINIANS carry the body of one of the victims of Monday's back-to-back strikes on Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, Gaza.

A deadly Israeli strike on a Gaza hospital that killed 20 people, including five journalists, was targeting what the military believed was a Hamas surveillance camera, as well as people identified as militants, the Israeli military said Tuesday.

The military issued the statement as part of its initial inquiry into the attack, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a “tragic mishap.”

The military said the back-to-back strikes on southern Gaza’s largest hospital were ordered because soldiers believed militants were using the camera to observe Israeli forces and because Israel has long believed Hamas and other militant groups are present at hospitals, though Israeli officials rarely provide evidence.

The military's chief of general staff acknowledged several “gaps” in the investigation so far, including the kind of ammunition used to take out the camera.

The initial investigation’s findings emerged Tuesday amid a surge of outrage and unanswered questions after international leaders and rights groups condemned the strikes.

Earlier Tuesday, protesters in Israel set tires ablaze, blocked highways and clamored for a ceasefire that would free hostages still in Gaza, even as Israeli leaders moved forward with plans for an offensive that they argue is needed to defeat Hamas.

Meanwhile, Palestinians in Gaza braced for the expanded offensive against a backdrop of displacement, destruction and parts of the territory plunging into famine. The deadly strikes a day earlier killed medics and journalists. Among them was Mariam Abu Dagga, a journalist who worked for the Associated Press and other publications.