At least 15 people, including four journalists, lost their lives on Monday after Israeli airstrikes struck al-Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, Palestinian health officials confirmed. Among the dead were Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri, Associated Press freelancer Mariam Abu Dagga, Mohammed Salam of Al Jazeera, and NBC contributor Moaz Abu Taha. Another Reuters photographer, Hatem Khaled, was critically injured.
Shocking footage from al-Ghad TV showed civil defence workers and fellow reporters in orange vests rushing to recover al-Masri’s body, only to come under fire themselves. Their final moments captured them raising their hands in a desperate bid for protection before being hit. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says at least 192 Palestinian journalists have been killed since October 7, 2023 — more than the global total of the past three years combined.
The CPJ accuses Israel of waging a “deliberate and systematic attempt to silence reporting from Gaza.” Their figures reveal Gaza has now become the deadliest place for journalists in modern history, with deaths surpassing those recorded in World Wars I & II, the Vietnam War, the Yugoslav conflicts, and the U.S. war in Afghanistan. October 2023 alone saw 44 journalists killed — 16% of the total. The killings persisted into November (32), December (37), and January 2024 (17).
Of the victims, 269 were Palestinian, three were Lebanese, and two were Israelis. Yet, despite mounting outrage, Israel has continued to bar foreign journalists from entering Gaza, prompting strong backlash from major international newsrooms. On July 24, CPJ even warned about threats against Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif. Less than three weeks later, he and three colleagues were killed — an act CPJ condemned as an assassination. To date, no accountability has followed.
Beyond the silencing of voices, Gaza now faces an even darker reality. The United Nations has officially declared famine in the enclave, with over half a million people trapped in hunger, disease, and preventable deaths. The World Food Programme (WFP), in its latest report, projects famine conditions will spread from Gaza City into Deir Al Balah and Khan Younis by late September.
According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, more than 640,000 people are on the brink of catastrophic hunger (Phase 5). Another 1.14 million are in Emergency (Phase 4), while nearly 400,000 remain in Crisis (Phase 3). UN agencies — FAO, UNICEF, WFP, and WHO — jointly raised the alarm, warning that famine must be stopped “at all costs.”
