Qatar has condemned Israel’s deadly “double-tap” strike on Gaza’s Nasser Medical Complex, which killed 21 people, including six journalists, calling it a “heinous crime” and demanding urgent international action.

Qatar has strongly condemned Israel’s bombing of the Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza on Monday, describing it as “a new episode in the ongoing series of heinous crimes” against Palestinians.

At least 21 people, including six journalists, were killed in the Israeli “double-tap” strike on the hospital.

Among the victims was Al Jazeera cameraman Mohammad Salama, who was killed live on air when a second missile struck as he documented rescue efforts following the initial attack.

“Qatar considers this a new episode in the ongoing series of heinous crimes committed by the occupation against the brotherly Palestinian people and a blatant violation of international law,” the Qatari foreign ministry said in a statement, calling for the need “to end the brutal genocidal war”.

“The occupation’s approach in targeting journalists and workers in the humanitarian and medical fields necessitates urgent and decisive international action to provide the necessary protection for civilians and ensure that the perpetrators of these atrocities do not escape accountability,” the statement added.

The attack came less than two weeks after Israel killed prominent Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif in Gaza on August 10, following months of Israeli-led incitement against him.

Al Jazeera condemned the killing of Salama and what it described as the deliberate targeting of journalists covering the war.

“The blood of our martyred journalists in Gaza has not yet dried before the Israeli occupation forces committed another crime against Al Jazeera cameraman Mohammed Salama,” the Qatar-based network said in a statement on Monday.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 62,819 people, mostly women and children, with thousands more still trapped under rubble. According to the Gaza media office, the death toll includes at least 246 journalists killed by Israel during the same period.

“We hold the Israeli occupation, the American administration, and the countries participating in the crime of genocide, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, fully responsible for committing these heinous and brutal crimes,” the Gaza media office said in a Telegram statement.