Israeli strike on Gaza hospital martyred journalist Hassan Aslih: Hamas

The Israeli military reported that it carried out an airstrike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, early Tuesday, targeting what it alleged as a ‘Hamas command and control center’. Hamas said journalist Hassan Aslih wounded in an Israeli attack last month was martyred.

According to the Israeli statement, “significant Hamas fighters” were operating from the facility, which was allegedly being used to ‘plan and launch attacks against Israeli civilians and military forces’.

The strike marked the end of a brief pause in hostilities, which had been observed to facilitate the release of a US-Israeli hostage.

Hamas claimed that the attack killed a journalist Hassan Aslih and injured several civilians. Gaza civil defense spokesperson Mahmud Bassal said the Israeli military bombed the hospital’s surgery building, resulting in the death of journalist Hassan Aslih. Aslih, head of the Alam24 news outlet, had been hospitalised since being injured in an Israeli strike on April 7.

At the time of the earlier strike, two other journalists — Ahmed Mansur and Hilmi Al-Faqaawi — were also reported martyred. The Israeli military stated that the April 7 strike had specifically targeted Aslih, accusing him of ‘working with Hamas “under the guise of a journalist’.