A year after Gaza hospital strike, accountability questions remain

One year after Israeli strikes at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis killed 22 Palestinians, including five journalists, there is still no publicly completed investigation or announced accountability.

The anniversary brought a renewed call for answers from The Associated Press and Reuters. In a joint statement published on Aug. 25, 2026, the organizations said they were still seeking a full explanation from Israeli authorities, accountability for the deaths and access for international journalists to Gaza.

What happened at Nasser Hospital

The strikes occurred on Aug. 25, 2025, at Nasser Hospital, one of the few functioning locations in Gaza supplying live video to newsrooms around the world, according to AP’s anniversary reporting.

AP reported that the first strike killed Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri and another person. Journalists and rescue workers then moved toward the scene. A second strike killed 20 people, including visual journalist Mariam Dagga, who worked with AP and other news organizations. Moaz Abu Taha, a freelance journalist whose work had been published by Reuters, was also among the five journalists identified in the AP-Reuters statement.

AP reported that footage and eyewitness accounts indicated that those killed in the second strike were unarmed. The news organizations said their journalists were at the hospital in their professional capacity.

Israel’s stated rationale remains disputed

Israeli officials said the military was targeting a suspected Hamas camera on the hospital roof. They later said six of those killed were linked to Hamas. AP reported that the military did not provide evidence for that claim in the account cited here.

AP’s new reporting adds an allegation from an Israeli soldier who spoke anonymously because of fear of retribution. The soldier said the camera belonged to al-Masri and that the military found no evidence connecting it to Hamas. The soldier also said none of the six people later described by Israel as Hamas-linked was the intended target.

AP reported that it confirmed some details of the soldier’s account and that the account was consistent with the military’s public response. Breaking the Silence, an organization founded by Israeli veterans, said it corroborated the account with its own sources.

That account is not a final investigative finding. Israel’s military has not accepted it and declined to address AP’s detailed questions while the incident remained under review.

No public timetable for a criminal-investigation decision

The military told AP that the incident was still being examined. It said findings would be transferred to the Military Advocate General’s Corps, which would decide whether to open a criminal investigation. The military did not provide a timeline.

That distinction matters. No criminal investigation has been announced in this case, and no finding that the journalists were deliberately targeted has been established. The sequence has prompted accusations that the second strike was a “double tap” attack on first responders, but that description and any legal conclusion remain unresolved.

What international law says

The International Committee of the Red Cross says journalists and other media professionals are protected as civilians under international humanitarian law unless, and for such time as, they directly participate in hostilities.

That protection applies to local, freelance and international journalists and does not depend on accreditation or affiliation with a major media organization. Reporting, photography and filming do not by themselves amount to direct participation in hostilities.

The ICRC says civilians must be protected against direct attack and that any attack on a military objective must comply with the rules of distinction, proportionality and precautions. Whether those rules were followed at Nasser Hospital is a matter for a completed investigation and, if warranted, further legal proceedings.

Why the unanswered questions matter

The case has implications beyond the families and news organizations involved. Local and freelance journalists remain central to documenting life and casualties in Gaza, where international media access has been restricted. Their work is essential to the public record, but the lack of independent access also makes claims about targets, evidence and military decision-making harder for outside organizations to verify.

An OHCHR Special Procedures record lists allegations involving killings, destruction of media facilities, harassment and detention affecting Palestinian journalists and media workers in Gaza and the West Bank. The record does not resolve the Nasser Hospital case, but it places the episode within a broader press-freedom and accountability concern.

The next meaningful developments would be publication of the military’s findings, a decision by the Military Advocate General’s Corps on whether to open a criminal investigation, or changes that allow independent international journalists to enter Gaza and examine the evidence directly.

Sources

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