GAZA CITY, Palestine: Gaza’s civil defence agency said an Israeli strike in the centre of the Palestinian territory on Wednesday killed three journalists, including a freelancer, despite the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Since October 10, a fragile US-brokered truce in Gaza has largely halted the relentless Israeli bombardment campaign, but Israel continued violations.
In a statement, the civil defence said “the bodies of the three journalists killed in an Israeli air strike in the Al-Zahra area southwest of Gaza City were transported to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah”.
It named the dead as Mohammed Salah Qashta, Abdul Raouf Shaat and Anas Ghneim. Shaat was a photo and video journalist.
The Israeli military said it was checking the reports.
The civil defence, which operates as a rescue force in Gaza, said in an earlier statement that an Israeli drone strike had targeted “a civilian vehicle” near Al-Zahra.
Israeli forces have killed at least 466 Palestinians in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, according to the health ministry in the Palestinian territory.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said that Israeli forces killed at least 29 Palestinian journalists in Gaza between December 2024 and December 2025.
The most deadly single attack was a so-called “double-tap” strike on a hospital in south Gaza on August 25, which killed five journalists, including two contributors to international news agencies Reuters and the Associated Press.
In total, since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, nearly 220 journalists have died, making Israel the biggest killer of journalists worldwide for three years running, RSF data shows.
Since October 2023, the Israeli bombardment campaign has killed at least71,500 Palestinians in Gaza, the territory’s health ministry said.
Last week, US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff announced the start of phase two of the Gaza ceasefire, saying it aimed to pave the way for reconstruction and the demilitarisation of all armed factions in the Palestinian territory.
