Gaza journalist Hassan Aslih killed in Israeli strike on hospital

An Israeli air strike on the emergency department of Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza has killed a well-known Palestinian photojournalist, medical sources and eyewitnesses say.

Hassan Aslih, who was being treated for injuries from a previous Israeli strike, was targeted in what witnesses described as a drone attack on the hospital’s surgical wing.

A doctor there confirmed that Aslih had been at the hospital for nearly a month after surviving an air strike on the same facility in April.

The Israeli military had previously accused Aslih of involvement in the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel. The strike in April killed Aslih’s colleague Helmi al-Faqawi and wounded several other journalists.

At the time, Ismail al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run government media office, said Israel’s accusations against Aslih were “false”, adding that Aslih had no political affiliation.

“The occupation’s claim that Aslih crossed into the occupied land and took part in the 7 October incidents is part of a policy to discredit and fabricate that the occupation adopts to justify attacks on journalists and media personnel,” Thawabta told Reuters agency on 7 April.

Aslih had published dozens of photos and videos documenting the 7 October Hamas assault from inside Israeli territory.

Aslih worked for years as a freelance photojournalist with both international and local news agencies. He was widely respected in Gaza for his extensive coverage of the conflict, often documenting events from the front lines. He has more than half a million followers on Instagram, where he documents the war.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement it had attacked Nasser Hospital in what it said was “a targeted attack on key terrorists”, but did not name Aslih.

It said the hospital was being used by Hamas to “carry out terrorist plots against Israeli forces and citizens”.

The Israeli military has repeatedly attacked what it claims are Hamas command-and-control centres based in hospitals or gunmen sheltering there. Hamas denies using hospitals in this way.

The UN’s human rights office has condemned what it calls Israel’s “pattern of deadly attacks on and near hospitals in Gaza”, saying they could amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity.

The Israel-Gaza war is the deadliest conflict for journalists in history, according to Brown University’s Watson Institute for Public Affairs, with more than 232 journalists killed in Gaza since the 7 October attacks.