An Israeli airstrike near Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital on Sunday killed Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohamed Qreiqeh, along with four other journalists and two additional people who were sheltering outside the complex.

The blast damaged the hospital’s emergency building entrance.

Press advocates condemned the strike as retaliation against those documenting the war, while Israel’s military claimed al-Sharif was a Hamas cell leader — an accusation both he and Al Jazeera had long denied, the Associated Press has reported.

It was the first time during the conflict that Israel’s military quickly acknowledged responsibility for killing a journalist.

Written by B.C. Begley