'Barbaric' double Israeli strike on Gaza hospital kills 15 including four journalists

Israel was condemned for a double missile strike on a Gaza hospital that killed at least 15 people, including four journalists.

Hamas officials said the cross-border assault hit the fourth floor of Nasser Hospital - the enclave's main medical facility.

One missile struck first before a second hit moments later as rescue crews arrived, according to Palestinian health ministry officials.

Cameraman Hossam al-Masri, who worked for Reuters, was killed in the first blast. His colleague, photographer Hatem Khaled, was wounded in the second strike.

Witnesses claimed the second strike happened as emergency services and journalists arrived after the initial attack. A Reuters live video feed from the hospital, which was being operated by al-Masri, was cut off at the moment of the initial blast.

Health officials in Gaza named three other journalists killed as Mariam Abu Daqqa, who worked as a freelancer for the Associated Press, Al Jazeera's Mohammed Salama and NBC network journalist Moaz Abu Taha. A rescue worker was also among those killed, they claimed.

Israel has not issued a statement on the strike which experts said was "typical" of what is known as a "double tap" that targets an area then hits it again shortly after when emergency services respond.

Witnesses claimed an Israeli drone dropped an explosive on the hospital rooftop, killing one journalist, before an airstrike wreaked further carnage.

Consultant surgeon Professor Nick Maynard, who worked at the hospital this summer, described the hit as "barbarism in the extreme".

He added: "I've been working in these hospitals, once the hospitals are being bombed, you have to concentrate on your job. You're there for one reason only, to help people."

More than 240 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war erupted on October 7, 2023, according to data collected by the Palestinian Journalist Syndicate.

Multiple hospitals have been struck or raided across the Gaza Strip, with Israel claiming its attacks targeted militants being harboured inside medical facilities.

In June, a strike on the Nasser Hospital killed three people.

Al Jazeera journalist Hind Khoudary said: "A lot of my colleagues are reporting on this attack just like I am. And for the first time we're running out of words - our colleagues have been killed live on air."

Gazan Ibrahim Al-Shurafa said: "The situation is extremely dangerous. Each day, each minute, there are bombings, martyrs, death and blood - we can't take it anymore.

"We don't know where to go. Death follows us everywhere."

Earlier this month Israel approved a plan to seize control of Gaza City, describing it as the last bastion of Hamas militants.

But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to expand military control has intensified global outcry over the devastation of the territory and famine spreading among the largely homeless population of 2.1 million.

Mr Netanyahu wants an outright Israeli takeover and re-settlement of Gaza and has vowed that war will rage until Hamas is eradicated.