Trump to chair Gaza meeting in Washington this week

Donald Trump
Steve Witkoff has announced Donald Trump will chair a meeting on Gaza in Washington this week. -AP

US special envoy Steve Witkoff says President Donald Trump will chair a meeting on Gaza at the White House and added that Washington expects Israel's war in the Palestinian territory to be settled by the end of the year.

The meeting will be held on Wednesday. The US State Department separately said Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar in Washington the same day.

Trump had promised a swift end to the war in Gaza during the 2024 US election campaign and after taking office in January, but almost seven months into his term, that stated goal remains elusive.

An Israeli security official said on Tuesday that none of the five journalists were among the six Hamas targets killed.

Israeli forces struck Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the south of the enclave on Monday, killing at least 20 people including journalists who worked for Reuters, the Associated Press, al-Jazeera and other outlets.

In its statement on Tuesday, the Israeli military said troops had identified what it said was a camera "positioned by Hamas" in the area to observe its forces. 

It said they operated to remove the threat by striking and dismantling the camera.

The statement identified what it called "several gaps" that Israel's Chief of the General Staff had instructed be further examined:

"Firstly, a further examination of the authorisation process prior to the strike, including the ammunition approved for the strike and the timing of the authorisation.

"Secondly, an examination of the decision-making process in the field."

The statement said the Chief of the General Staff had emphasised that the Israeli military directs its activities solely toward military targets.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Monday that Israel deeply regretted what he called a "tragic mishap".

An Israeli military spokesman said on Tuesday that journalists working for Reuters and Associated Press were not a target of Israel's strike on Nasser hospital.

"We can confirm that the Reuters and AP journalists were not a target of the strike," he said. 

On Monday, the Reuters live video feed from the hospital, which cameraman Hussam al-Masri, a Reuters contractor, had been operating, suddenly shut down at the moment of the initial strike. 

Masri was killed in the attack.

Reuters and other news providers often deliver live video feeds to media outlets worldwide during major news events to show the scene from the ground in real time.

Reuters has frequently broadcast a feed from Nasser hospital during the Gaza Strip war, and for the past several weeks had been delivering daily feeds from the hospital position that was hit.

The journalists killed also included Mariam Abu Dagga, who freelanced for the Associated Press and other outlets, Mohammed Salama, who worked for Qatar-based broadcaster al-Jazeera, Moaz Abu Taha, a freelance journalist who worked with several news organisations including occasionally contributing to Reuters, and Ahmed Abu Aziz.