Israel struck the Nasser hospital four times on Monday, a BBC investigation has revealed. The strikes on the southern Gaza hospital killed up to twenty people. The death toll includes five journalists.

The attack followed the pattern of a so-called double-tap strike. In a double-tap, the first responders who arrive after the initial attack are struck again. This method actively targets civilians. It has been used by groups like Al Qaeda and states like the US, the now-overthrown Assad government in Syria and Russia.

The BBC’s video analysis showed “the hospital was struck four times in total”.

BBC Verify and expert analysis claims:

that two staircases were hit almost simultaneously in the first wave, and while what was thought to be a single later attack was in fact two separate strikes hitting the same place within a fraction of a second.

Israel’s double-tap strikes hit Nasser hospital four times

The BBC said:

In the first incident, an Israeli strike hit the exterior staircase on the hospital’s eastern side at 10:08 local time (07:08 GMT), killing journalist Hussam Al-Masri who was operating a live TV feed for Reuters.

This incident led to the bizarre Israeli claim that the target had been a “Hamas camera”:

BBC Verify has now “identified another previously unreported blast at a northern wing staircase at practically the same time, which was overshadowed by the “double-tap” strike on the eastern staircase”.

New footage shows smoke rising and damage at both staircases, while emergency workers said the hospital’s operating department was hit.

Proportional?

“A reasonable attacker must expect scores of civilian casualties since a hospital is full of protected persons,” Professor Janina Dill of Oxford University, an expert in global security, told the BBC:

She added that the “mere presence of equipment that belongs to an adversary” does not lead a medical facility to lose its ‘protected status’ under the laws governing warfare.

As the Canary has reported, Israel has made a habit of killing Palestinian journalists. As the BBC acknowledges in it’s report, Israeli has banned international journalist from Gaza. This leaves only Palestinian reporters and crew, who have died in considerable numbers.

According to 26 August figures, Israel had killed up to 270 media workers since Israel began its war. You can read their names here.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

This post was originally published on Canary.