Funeral for five journalists killed in Israeli airstrike in Gaza

A funeral has been held for five journalists killed in an Israeli attack outside a hospital in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry.

They were among at least 10 people reportedly killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza, while a three-week-old girl froze to death while staying in a tent camp.

An Israeli airstrike on a house in the Zeitoun district of Gaza City killed five people and injured 20, medics said, warning that the death toll could rise as many people remained trapped under the rubble.

Separately, five journalists from Al-Quds Al-Youm television were killed when their vehicle was struck near Al-Awda hospital in Nuseirat, central Gaza, the enclave’s Hamas-run health authorities said.

The vehicle was marked as a media van and was used by journalists to report from the hospital and the Nuseirat camp.

Israel Defense Forces said its aircraft “targeted” the vehicle, adding that there were members of the militant group Islamic Jihad inside.

They have not yet commented on the strike in the Zeitoun area of Gaza City.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says more than 130 Palestinian reporters have been killed since the war began, while Israel has not allowed foreign reporters to enter the Gaza Strip except in military camps.

Israel has been waging a war against Gaza since October 7 last year, when Hamas, the militant group that controls the besieged enclave, killed 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 250 others in southern Israel – an unprecedented attack that marked the bloodiest day in Israel marked history.

According to local authorities, the Israeli military operation in Gaza has since claimed the lives of more than 45,361 people.

In the early hours of Christmas morning, a three-week-old girl named Sila was reported to have frozen to death at a tent camp in the Muwasi area outside the southern town of Khan Younis.

Her father, Mahmoud al Faseeh, wrapped her in a blanket to keep her warm, but it was not enough, he told The Associated Press (AP).

He said the tent was not sheltered from the wind and the ground was cold as temperatures fell to 9C on Tuesday evening.

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Mr. Faseeh described that the night was so cold that it was challenging even for adults. His daughter had woken up crying three times overnight and was found unresponsive in the morning. “She was like wood,” he said.

They rushed Sila to the hospital, but it turned out her lungs had already deteriorated.

A photo taken by AP showed the little girl with purple lips and mottled pale skin.

Ahmed al Farra, director of the children’s ward at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, confirmed that the baby died of hypothermia.

He said two other babies – one three days old, the other a month old – were taken to hospital in the last 48 hours after they died from hypothermia.