DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Health officials reported that Israeli airstrikes targeted a southern Gaza hospital on Monday, resulting in the deaths of five journalists. Among those lost was a reporter for The Associated Press who had recently covered stories on malnourished children receiving treatment at the same facility.

Mariam Dagga, a 33-year-old visual journalist, worked as a freelancer with AP and other media organizations throughout the conflict. AP expressed deep sorrow and shock over Dagga’s death, as well as the other journalists’ tragic losses.

“We are doing all we can to ensure our journalists’ safety in Gaza as they continue their vital eyewitness reporting in dangerous situations,” stated the AP.

Medical officials reported that Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis was quickly hit by two strikes. Videos depict journalists and rescue teams rushing to the location after the first strike, only to be caught in a massive explosion while positioned on an outside staircase commonly used by journalists.

In all, 20 people were killed, according to Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the Gaza Health Ministry’s records department.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the strike was a “tragic mishap” and that the military was investigating.

“Israel values the work of journalists, medical staff, and all civilians,” his office said in a statement.

While admitting to a military strike in the Nasser Hospital area, the military expressed regret for any unintended injuries to non-targeted individuals and stated that journalists were not deliberately targeted.

Israeli media reported that Israeli troops fired two artillery shells at the hospital, targeting a Hamas surveillance camera on the roof.

Reuters noted that before the initial strike occurred, it was broadcasting a live video from the hospital, which unexpectedly went dark. According to hospital authorities, the journalist responsible for the live feed perished in the first strike.

Video obtained by AP shows people climbing the external stairwell of the hospital just after the first strike — and then the thundering boom of the second strike.

The Israel-Hamas war has been one of the bloodiest conflicts for media workers, with 189 Palestinian journalists killed by Israeli fire in Gaza in the 22-month conflict, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Comparatively, 18 journalists have been killed so far in Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to the CPJ.

Like other journalists in Gaza, Mariam Dagga lived what she covered

Many of the journalists working in Gaza are facing the same struggles to find food, for themselves and their families, as the people they are covering. Dagga’s 13-year-old son was evacuated from Gaza earlier in the war and she herself was displaced multiple times due to the fighting.

Al Jazeera confirmed that its journalist Mohammed Salama was also among those who were killed in the Nasser strikes. Middle East Eye, a U.K.-based media outlet, said that Salama had also contributed to its coverage.

Reuters reported that its contractor cameraman Hussam al-Masri and Moaz Abu Taha, a freelancer who worked occasionally for the organization, were killed. The agency’s contractor photographer Hatem Khaled was wounded.

Ahmad Abu Aziz was also killed, according to Health Ministry official al-Waheidi. He had worked as a freelancer for Middle East Eye, the organization said.

Dagga frequently based herself at Nasser, most recently reporting on the hospital’s struggle to save children from starvation, including making a series of searing images. Independent Arabia, the Arabic language version of the British Independent, said Dagga also worked with the organization.

She often shared short, somber posts on Facebook, reflecting on her life in Gaza. In one of her last, on Sunday, she wrote: “When you see the soil covering the most precious thing you have, only then will you realize how trivial life is.”

Rising fears for journalists in Gaza

Thibaut Bruttin, the director general of Reporters Without Borders, said press freedom advocates had never seen such a severe step backward for reporters’ safety. He noted that journalists have been killed both in indiscriminate strikes and in targeted attacks that Israel’s military has acknowledged carrying out.

“They are doing everything they can to silence independent voices that are trying to report on Gaza,” Bruttin said.

The deadliest day for journalists in the Gaza war, according to the CPJ, was two weeks ago, when six journalists were killed, including Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif. The channel said that with Monday’s strike, 10 journalists associated with the network have been killed in Gaza.

Reporters Without Borders called for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting to examine what it called Israel’s failure to uphold the U.N. resolution protecting independent journalists in times of conflict.

A spokesperson for Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said journalists working in Gaza while their international colleagues are denied entry must be protected.

“The killing of journalists in Gaza should shock the world – not into stunned silence – but into action, demanding accountability and justice,” chief spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said.

Israel’s security council is expected to meet tomorrow night to discuss the plans for an expanded operation in Gaza and the ceasefire negotiations.

Aside from rare guided tours, Israel has barred international media from covering the war. News organizations instead rely largely on Palestinian journalists in Gaza — as well as residents — to show the world what is happening there. Israel often questions the affiliations and biases of Palestinian journalists but doesn’t permit others in.

Israel has often accused journalists in Gaza of being part of militant groups, including providing documents it says link the reporters to militant activity, which AP has been unable to verify. Israel’s military asserted that al-Sharif had led a Hamas cell, allegations that both Al Jazeera and al-Sharif previously dismissed as baseless.

The Foreign Press Association, which has petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court over Israel’s decision to block journalists from accessing Gaza, made an emotional plea on Monday.

“Too many journalists in Gaza have been killed by Israel without justification,” the organization said in a statement. “This must be a watershed moment. We appeal to international leaders: Do everything you can to protect our colleagues. We cannot do it ourselves.”

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This story has been updated to correct that Dagga’s son is 13, not 12, and to correct the spelling of the last name of the one of the journalists to Salama, not Salam. It has also been updated to correct that the number of journalists killed in Gaza, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, is 189, not 192.

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Magdy reported from Cairo and Lidman from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Sam Metz contributed from Jerusalem.