GAZA CITY, 4 June 2025 / PNN/

Four Palestinian journalists were killed and a fifth critically wounded when an Israeli drone strike targeted the courtyard of the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, local sources reported on Tuesday.

Journalist Ahmad Qalja later succumbed to injuries sustained in the same attack, bringing the total number of media workers killed in the incident to four.

According to eyewitnesses and medical personnel at the hospital, an Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) launched a strike on the hospital’s courtyard, where a group of journalists had gathered. The initial attack claimed the lives of Ismail Baddah, Suleiman Hajjaj, and Samir Al-Rifai, while journalist Emad Daloul sustained life-threatening injuries.

Journalists Islam Badr and Ahmad Qalja were also injured in the strike. Daloul’s condition was described as critical by medical staff.

Dr. Fadel Naeem, director of Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, confirmed this was the eighth attack on the hospital since the beginning of what Palestinian officials have described as a campaign of genocide.

“This hospital is overwhelmed,” Naeem told reporters. “Many medical centres across Gaza are no longer operational, leaving us under immense pressure.”

The deaths of the four media workers bring the total number of journalists killed since Israel launched its assault on Gaza in October 2023 to at least 224, according to local press freedom monitors.

The Palestinian Journalists Protection Committee (PJPC) has labelled Gaza “the most dangerous place in the world for journalists,” noting that Israel has killed more than 221 media workers in the enclave since the start of the war — an average of one journalist every three days.