Al Jazeera says Israeli strike kills two of its journalists in Gaza

Two Al Jazeera journalists were killed on Wednesday in an Israeli strike in Gaza, the Qatar-based channel reported as war rages in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas.

"Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Ismail al-Ghoul and his cameraman Rami al-Refee have been killed in an Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip," the network reported adding the strike "targeted a car near the Aidia area, west of Gaza City".

Since the start of the war in Gaza on October 7, Al Jazeera has aired continuous on-the-ground reporting on the effects of Israel's campaign.

The network's office in Gaza has already been bombed in the conflict and two other correspondents killed.

In a statement, Hamas condemned the killings as a "heinous crime" which it said was "aimed at terrorising and silencing" Palestinian journalists as they reported "the ongoing genocide against our people in the Gaza Strip for nearly ten months".

Al Jazeera has been the focus of months of criticism from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government.

Last month, an Israeli court confirmed it had extended a ban on the network, which broadcasts in Arabic and English, initially placed on Al Jazeera in early May.

In January, Israel said an Al Jazeera staff journalist and a freelancer killed in an air strike in Gaza were "terror operatives".

The following month, it accused another journalist with the channel who was wounded in a separate strike of being a "deputy company commander" with Hamas.

Al Jazeera has fiercely denied Israel's allegations and accused it of systematically targeting Al Jazeera employees in the Gaza Strip.

Its bureau chief in Gaza, Wael al-Dahdouh, was wounded in an Israeli strike in December that killed the network's cameraman.

His wife, two of their children and a grandson were killed in the October bombardment of central Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp.

His eldest son was the Al Jazeera staff journalist killed in January when a strike targeted a car in Rafah.