Four Palestinian journalists were martyred and a fifth critically injured on Thursday after an Israeli drone strike directly targeted the courtyard of the Baptist Hospital in central Gaza City—an area long known to be frequented by medical staff, displaced civilians, and members of the press.

According to local sources, the journalists—Ismail Bdaih, Suleiman Hajjaj, and Samir Al-Rifai—were on assignment near the hospital entrance when the strike hit, snatching their lives in an instant. A fourth journalist, Imad Daloul, sustained severe injuries and was rushed to intensive care in critical condition.

The bloodshed occurred in broad daylight, outside one of Gaza’s most prominent hospitals—a site that should represent healing and refuge. Instead, it became the stage of yet another Israeli atrocity, committed with brazen impunity and total disregard for international law.

The attack has sparked outrage among journalists, human rights defenders, and humanitarian organizations, who condemned the deliberate targeting of media workers as part of a larger campaign of Israeli terror designed to silence the truth and obliterate Palestinian voices.

"This was not a mistake. This was murder in cold blood," said a spokesperson for the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate. "Israel continues to bomb hospitals, schools, refugee camps—and now again the very people who risk their lives to expose the truth."

Thursday’s attack is only the latest chapter in Israel's ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people—a campaign waged not only with bombs and bullets, but with media suppression and the criminalization of truth.

International observers note that the targeted killing of journalists constitutes a war crime under international humanitarian law. Yet, despite the growing list of atrocities, the Israeli regime continues to act with arrogance and impunity, shielded by powerful allies and a complicit global order.

Since October 2023, Israel’s brutal assault on the besieged Gaza Strip has claimed over 54,000 lives—most of them women and children—and devastated every aspect of life in the enclave. Hospitals have become graveyards, schools turned into ruins, and now, press vests are becoming death warrants.

The murder of these journalists is not only an attack on individuals—it is an attack on truth itself. And it will not be forgotten. (ILKHA)