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THE ISRAELI ATTACK on the Nasser hospital in Gaza that killed five journalists and another 15 people today has been widely condemned by media representative bodies, and seen by many as a “double tap” strike, which they say is a war crime.
A double tap involves an initial strike on a target followed by a second one that kills first responders.
It is a tactic that has been used by Israel during its current war on Gaza, as well by Russia in Ukraine and Syria.
There is some debate about whether double tap strikes constitute a war crime. They can be used as a way of ensuring a high-profile target has been killed, but they can also be used to terrorise a civilian population and even discourage people from rushing to aid the wounded.
The back-to-back strikes this morning killed journalists Mohammad Salama, Mariam Abu Dagga, Hussam al-Masri, Moaz Abu Taha and Ahmad Abu Aziz.
Live footage from Al Ghad TV showed the area of the hospital hit by the first strike, where medical and media workers could be seen trying to help.
Those first responders then disappear in a cloud of dust that fills the screen.
In a statement, Al Jazeera Media Network said that it “condemns, in the strongest possible terms, this horrific crime committed by the Israeli occupation forces, who have directly targeted and assassinated journalists as part of a systematic campaign to silence the truth”.
During a live broadcast on Al-Ghad TV, civil defense teams came under an Israeli airstrike in a second attack on Nasser Hospital, killing journalist and Reuters photographer Hussam Al-Masri along with others.
— Al Quds News Network (@alqudsnewsnet.bsky.social) August 25, 2025 at 11:55 AM
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The Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem has called for an “immediate explanation” from the Israeli military and demanded it “halt its abhorrent practice of targeting journalists”.
The medical charity MSF said Israel hit the hospital with two consecutive strikes.
“As Israel continues to shun international law, the only witnesses of their genocidal campaign are deliberately being targeted. It must stop now,” it said.
Mariam Abu Dagga worked frequently as a freelance photographer with MSF.
The Israeli military has acknowledged it targeted the hospital and said it does not deliberately target journalists “as such”. It said there would be an investigation into the attack.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this evening that Israel “deeply regrets the tragic mishap” and that it “values the work of journalists, medical staff, and all civilians”.
The ongoing war against the Gaza Strip in Palestine is already the deadliest for journalists since records began, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Today’s attack comes just two weeks after the killing of six media workers in Gaza when Israel bombed the tent they were staying in. One of those was the celebrated Al Jazeera reporter Anas al-Sharif.
Taking today’s five deaths into account, the number of slain media workers in Gaza now stands at 197, the CPJ said.
CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg told CNN today that if this morning’s attack was a double tap strike, “that is considered to be a war crime”.
She said the CPJ believes the first strike was aimed at a camera at the top of the hospital operated by the Reuters news agency. The people who then responded, including members of the media, were hit by a second strike not long afterwards.
Double tap strikes have become particularly common in recent months when Israel bombs schools in Gaza, where displaced residents have sought shelter.
— +972 Magazine (@972mag) August 25, 2025
By @yuval_abraham https://t.co/4Ji6IThor8 pic.twitter.com/oJSYa6Yt8V
Ginsberg added that every time a journalist is killed by Israel in Gaza, the CPJ seeks a response from the Israeli army.
“We don’t always hear back. In the cases where we do, often, as was the case with Anas Al Sharif and others, we hear the allegations that those journalists were considered by Israel to be terrorists, we don’t get any verifiable or credible evidence from them.”
The Israeli news magazine +972 recently revealed the existence of a unit in the Israeli military whose remit is to smear Palestinian journalists as terrorists in order to justify their killing. The unit is called the “Legitimisation Cell”.
Israel does not allow international journalists to enter Gaza, apart from a handful of people embedded with the Israeli military, meaning those who are reporting from the besieged territory are Palestinians.
“The fact that there has been no international access has allowed Israel to perpetuate this narrative that none of the journalists in Gaza are trustworthy,” Ginsberg said.
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