Israel kills 5 journalists in latest Gaza attacks as three babies freeze to death

Ten people, including five journalists, were killed and 20 wounded in Israel’s latest attacks on Gaza, Palestinian authorities said.

The journalists from the Al-Quds Today channel were killed in an airstrike at al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp, Al Jazeera reported.

The strike hit their broadcasting van, which was clearly marked “press”, the outlet said.

The slain were identified as Fadi Hassouna, Ibrahim al-Sheikh Ali, Mohammed al-Ladah, Faisal Abu al-Qumsan, and Ayman al-Jadi. Jadi’s wife was reportedly in the hospital at the time and in labour with their first child.

According to the Quds News Network, civil defence teams recovered the bodies of the victims and put out a fire at the scene. The journalists were reportedly sleeping in the vehicle at the time of the airstrike.

The Israeli military said its aircraft carried out a “targeted” attack on the vehicle as it contained members of the Islamic Jihad militant group.

“Prior to the attack, many steps were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians, including the use of precision weapons, aerial observations, and additional intelligence information,” the military said in a post on X.

Another Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood killed five people and wounded 20, the medics reported. They warned the death toll could rise as many people remained trapped under the rubble.

Israel has been waging a war on Gaza since a Hamas attack in October last year killed 1,200 Israeli civilians and soldiers and saw nearly 250 taken hostage.

Israel has so far killed more than 45,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the local health ministry. The dead include at least 141 journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Its air and ground offensive has caused widespread destruction and displaced around 90 per cent of the besieged territory’s 2.3 million people, often multiple times.

In a separate incident, a three-week-old baby girl named Sila reportedly froze to death in a tent camp in the Muwasi area outside the southern town of Khan Younis in the early hours of Christmas morning.

Sila was one of three babies to die of hypothermia over the past 48 hours, authorities said. The others were aged three days and one month.

Sila’s father, Mahmoud al-Faseeh, told the Associated Press that he had wrapped her in a blanket to keep her warm, but it wasn’t enough. He said the tent wasn’t sealed from the wind and the ground was cold, with temperatures dropping to 9C Tuesday night.

“It was very cold overnight and as adults we couldn’t even take it. We couldn’t stay warm,” he said. In the morning, Sila was found unresponsive, and despite efforts to rush her to the hospital, her lungs had already deteriorated. A photo showed the baby with purple lips and blotchy skin.

“She was like wood,” said Mr al-Faseeh.

Ahmed al-Farra, director of the children’s ward at Nasser Hospital, confirmed Sila and the other babies died from hypothermia, according to Sky News.