Israeli strike on press van kills 5 journalists in Gaza

GAZA CITY

A Palestinian TV channel affiliated with a militant group said five of its journalists were killed on Dec. 26 in an Israeli strike on their vehicle in Gaza, with Israel's military saying it had targeted a "terrorist cell.”

A missile hit the journalists' broadcast truck as it was parked in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to a statement from their employer, Al-Quds Today.

It is affiliated with Islamic Jihad, whose militants have fought alongside Hamas in the Gaza Strip and took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the war.

The channel said that they were killed "while performing their journalistic and humanitarian duty.”

The Israeli military said in its own statement that it had conducted "a precise strike on a vehicle with an Islamic Jihad terrorist cell inside in the area of Nuseirat.”

It added that "prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians.”

According to witnesses in Nuseirat, a missile fired by an Israeli aircraft hit the broadcast vehicle, which was parked outside Al-Awda Hospital, setting the vehicle on fire and killing those inside.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said last week that more than 190 journalists had been killed and at least 400 injured since the start of the war in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir stormed Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Thursday, triggering angry reactions from the Palestinian Authority and Jordan accusing the far-right politician of a deliberate provocation.

Ben-Gvir has repeatedly defied the Israeli government's longstanding ban on Jewish prayer at the site in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

"I went up to the site of our temple this morning to pray for the peace of our soldiers, the swift return of all hostages and a total victory, God willing," Ben Gvir said in a message on X.

He also posted a photo of himself on the holy site, with members of the Israeli security forces and the famed golden Dome of the Rock in the background.