Gaza medics say the Israeli raid killed five Palestinian journalists, while the Israeli army says it targeted activists.

Gaza authorities said an Israeli air strike killed five Palestinian journalists outside a hospital on Thursday, but the Israeli military said it attacked a car carrying Islamic Jihad activists.

Medics said the five were among at least 21 people killed in Israeli air attacks across the Palestinian enclave before dawn, while Hamas and Israel exchanged blame over the delay in reaching a ceasefire agreement after more than 14 months of fighting.

The Union of Palestinian Journalists said that an air strike resulted in the killing of five journalists from Al-Quds Al-Youm channel who were in a broadcast vehicle in front of Al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

The union said that more than 190 Palestinian journalists have been martyred by Israeli fire since the start of the war in October 2023.

The Gaza-based channel described the raid as a massacre and said in a statement on the messaging app Telegram that the five “were killed while carrying out their media and humanitarian duty.”

The Israeli army said that it “carried out a precise strike on a car containing a terrorist cell affiliated with Islamic Jihad in the Nuseirat area.”

Israel regularly denies targeting journalists and says it takes steps to avoid harming civilians.

The Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad movement, an ally of Hamas, has fought several rounds against Israel in the past two decades, and the movement’s fighters have joined the fight against Israel since October 2023. It said it also has hostages in its custody.

The Israeli campaign against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 45,300 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-run enclave. Most of the 2.3 million people were displaced, and much of Gaza was reduced to rubble.

The war was sparked by a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 hostages were taken in Gaza, according to Israeli statistics.

Medics say the death toll may rise

Video from the scene of Thursday’s attack showed the twisted wreckage of a white truck with what appeared to be the remains of the word “press” in red on the back doors.

Later on Thursday, dozens of journalists’ relatives and fellow journalists participated in the funerals of the five journalists, whose bodies were wrapped in white shrouds. Blue protective vests bearing the word “press” were placed over the covered bodies.

Abed Miqdad, an observer in the Israeli army, said, “The Israeli army justifies or justifies this targeting by claiming that it is targeting individuals involved in Palestinian organizations and cells. But on the ground, these individuals were on press missions, staying in press vehicles and covering the events.” Al-Arabi TV correspondent during the funeral.

Women wept beside the bodies while men performed special prayers before burial.

The mother of Fadi Hassouna, one of the dead, said: “May God take revenge on them. May God take revenge on them. He is the one who makes the news and broadcasts crimes to the world. This is what they do to them.” Journalists.

Medics in the Strip said that eight other people were killed and 20 others were injured in an Israeli air strike on a house in the Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City. They added that the death toll may rise because many people are trapped under the rubble.

In Gaza City, medics said that an Israeli raid on a house in the Sabra suburb killed eight more people, bringing the death toll on Thursday to 21.

Israel and Hamas exchange blame for delaying the ceasefire

On Wednesday, Hamas and Israel exchanged blame for their failure to reach a ceasefire agreement despite progress announced by both sides in recent days.

Hamas said that Israel had set more conditions, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the movement of reneging on the understandings that had already been reached.

Hamas said, “The occupation set new conditions related to withdrawal, ceasefire, prisoners, and the return of the displaced, which delayed reaching the agreement that was available.”

Netanyahu responded in a statement: “The Hamas terrorist organization continues to lie, retract the understandings that have already been reached, and continues to create difficulties in the negotiations.”