Israeli aircraft and artillery struck Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists in Gaza on Wednesday evening and early Thursday morning, the IDF reported.
In the earlier action, taken late on Wednesday, IDF and IAF artillery reportedly struck Hamas terrorists in the area of Gaza City.
The military noted that the terrorists it hit exploited the area to "plan and execute an explosive drone attack against IDF troops in an imminent time frame" but that, prior to the strike, "numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians."
Later, the IDF reported that the air force had conducted a strike on a Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist cell located in the Nuesirat area of Gaza overnight between Wednesday and Thursday.
After both these strikes, Arab media and Reuters claimed that journalists were killed.
Reuters reported that Gaza health authorities said at least ten people, including five journalists, were killed during both of Israel's strikes.
The health authorities in Gaza, such as the Health Ministry and the civil services in the Strip, are operated by Hamas.
The Saudi news channel Al-Hadath also reported that five journalists were killed.
Reports on the strikes
The Reuters report added that the deaths occurred in two separate incidents, with the first killing five and wounding 20 in Gaza City's Zeitoun neighborhood.
The second incident reportedly killed five journalists when their vehicle was struck in the Nuesirat area. Reuters stated that the journalists worked for the Al-Quds Al-Youm television channel.
The report also added that the van the journalists were in was allegedly marked as a media van.
The IDF has yet to comment on reports the journalists were hit in a strike.
Additional IDF action in Gaza
The IAF conducted additional strikes in Gaza, killing senior Hamas terrorists, Israel's military said on Thursday morning.
Among the Hamas terrorists killed were Muhammad Jamil Salman Basous and Muhammad Kamal Muhammad Al-Haj.
The IDF said that Basous was a senior commander in the engineering unit of Hamas’s Gaza City Brigade and was "responsible for supplying explosives to terrorist operatives and stored explosive materials inside his house."
It added that Al-Haj served as a Nukhba company commander in the Zeitoun Battalion and carried out sniper attacks for Hamas against IDF troops.
Additionally, the terrorist Mahmoud Jamil Salman Basous was killed in the strikes. Mahmoud was a platoon commander in Hamas’s Shejaiya Battalion and the brother of the aformentioned Muhammad Jamil Salman Basous.