Israeli army appears to change tack on strike that killed Gaza journalists

Al Jazeera journalists Hamza Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya were killed in a targeted strike on their car in Khan Younis.

The Israeli military has seemingly walked back its justification for targeting a vehicle in Gaza last week, killing two Al Jazeera journalists, United States broadcaster NBC reported.

Hamza Dahdouh, the eldest son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh, was killed in an Israeli missile strike on Sunday in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. Journalist Mustafa Thuraya was also killed in the attack, while a third passenger, journalist Hazem Rajab, was seriously injured.

At the time of the attack, the Israeli army said it was targeting a “terrorist” in the vehicle.

It confirmed in a statement that a military aircraft “identified and struck a terrorist who operated an aircraft that posed a threat to (Israeli) troops,” adding that “we are aware of the reports that during the strike, two other suspects who were in the same vehicle as the terrorist were also hit”.

However, when asked if Israel had any proof that a so-called terrorist was present in the car, army spokesperson Daniel Hagari described the incident to NBC as “unfortunate”, and said that an investigation was continuing to determine what happened.