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Facebook is 20 years old today.

On 4 February 2004 Mark Zuckerberg launched ‘thefacebook.com’ from his Harvard dormitory.

Two decades later, many users struggle to remember a time they weren’t scrolling through its news feed – or that of its social media sibling, Instagram.

While allowing us to find long-lost friends and family, and supporting small businesses, its 20-year history has been chequered with controversy – from the Cambridge Analytica scandal and allegations of election interference, to lacking protections against harmful content.

Here we look back at the last 20 years – and what could be in store for the trillion-dollar tech company.

2004

When computer science and psychology student Mark Zuckerberg launched thefacebook.com, it was only for students like him – and not open to the wider public.

It was designed so they could exchange posts, messages, and create a network of ‘friends’.

Its mainstay was the ‘wall’, where users could publish posts or write on others.

Facebook was hot on the heels of its early 2000s rival MySpace and was not monetised so refreshingly free of advertising.

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Tyler (left) and Cameron Winklevoss and their ConnectU co-founder Divya Narendra. Pic: AP
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Tyler (left) and Cameron Winklevoss and their ConnectU co-founder Divya Narendra. Pic: AP

But just a few days after it launched, three of Zuckerberg’s fellow Harvard students accused him of stealing their idea for a similar social network they had created called ConnectU. Twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss and Divya Narendra claimed Zuckerberg had helped them with ConnectU, but eventually agreed to settle their legal case in 2008 – in exchange for $65m (£51m), including Facebook shares, and their ConnectU business.

By the end of the year, Facebook already had a million users.

2005

You couldn’t upload photos on Facebook until 2005, when the ability to sub-categorise pictures into albums provided the first platform for the ‘photo dump’.

The inclusion of photos on Facebook also gave birth to the concept of the ‘profile picture’.

The year after the launch, Zuckerberg also decided to drop the ‘the’ and bought the domain name Facebook.com for $200,000 (£170,000) from a company called AboutFace Corporation.

Facebook's login page in 2010. Pic: AP
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Facebook’s login page in 2010. Pic: AP

2006

A year before the first iPhone was released, Facebook launched a bespoke mobile site for the first generation of smartphone users.

On 26 September 2006 Facebook expanded beyond university students for the first time – allowing anyone with an email address over the age of 18 to join.

With the expansion came the news feed, giving users a curated selection of their friends’ posts, and the wider world the concept of ‘scrolling’.

2006 was also the first year Facebook faced major controversy. Zuckerberg was forced to apologise after his Beacon feature, which sent data to third parties to create targeted ads, began showing users’ purchasing history on their profiles without their consent. Eventually people could opt to turn the feature off.

2007

Facebook’s fourth year brought with it several firsts – videos, ads, Marketplace and pages.

Introducing advertising created huge revenue streams and gave businesses a new way of selling themselves online.

Pages also meant companies and other organisations could create mini-professional profiles that were distinct from personal ones.

On a smaller consumer scale, individual users could advertise goods for sale.

Facebook for iPhone. Pic: AP
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Facebook for iPhone. Pic: AP

2008

Facebook launched its own instant messenger ‘chat’ in March 2008, which became a separate app entirely known as ‘messenger’ in 2011.

With the iPhone came a dedicated Facebook app, separate from its mobile site.

A second major data breach saw the dates of birth of more than 80 million users published on the platform.

2009

This was the year of the ‘like’ button.

And to rival Twitter, which had launched in 2006, Facebook also introduced tagging for photos, posts, and comments.

Pic: Reuters
Image:
Pic: Reuters

2010

January 2010 saw Facebook’s first purpose-built data centre open in Oregon.

By the middle of the year the site had reached 500 million users, with ‘groups’ also added for the first time.

In October, The Social Network film was released. Starring Jesse Eisenberg as Zuckerberg, it set out to tell the story of Facebook’s beginnings and the subsequent battle between its founder and the Winklevoss twins. Although it was a huge success in Hollywood, Zuckerberg criticised parts of it for being inaccurate.

Stars of The Social Network film Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake at its premiere in 2010. Pic: AP
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Stars of The Social Network film Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake at its premiere in 2010. Pic: AP

2011

In 2011, Facebook began its long and complex relationship with law enforcement.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued it for multiple breaches of its privacy policy. These included users’ friends list being public even when they had made them private, and non-consensual sharing of their personal data with advertising companies.

By 2023, the FTC was on its third case against Facebook.

2011 was also the year the much-loved Facebook wall was replaced with a timeline.

2012

In April 2012, Facebook bought Instagram for $1bn (£0.8bn) and in May it was floated on the stock market for the first time.

Zuckerberg said he bought the photo-sharing app because it was a “threat” to Facebook’s future and the IPO was one of the biggest and most anticipated in history, with an estimated share value of $104bn (£82.2bn).

Zuckerberg leaves his New York City hotel on the day of Facebook's IPO. Pic: Reuters
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Zuckerberg leaves his New York City hotel on the day of Facebook’s IPO in 2014. Pic: Reuters

Oculus, a Facebook-owned brand, also produced its first virtual reality headset.

Later that year the platform reached a new milestone of one billion users – a seventh of the world’s population.

2013

In June 2013 a bug saw the email addresses and phone numbers of six million Facebook users accessible online.

It was thought to have been an issue since the year before but was only spotted in 2013.

In terms of features, this year saw users able to edit their posts retrospectively and share stickers as well as emojis.

2014

Two years after the acquisition of Instagram, Facebook bought WhatsApp for 19 times the amount. WhatsApp was created in 2009 for iPhone by a former Yahoo employee.

Today more than half of the world’s internet users have WhatsApp.

2015

At the very end of 2015 the Cambridge Analytica scandal was first reported by The Guardian and The New York Times.

Over the next few years it emerged that the UK-based political consultancy firm had harvested millions of Facebook users’ data for various clients without their consent.

The scandal implicated US politicians, and the Vote Leave campaign, among others. Eventually the UK Information Commissioner ruled the firm was not involved in the Brexit referendum beyond “some initial enquiries… in the early stages” by UKIP.

It was hugely damaging for Facebook’s reputation and its finances.

2016

As self-shooting live broadcasts became more and more of a feature on the internet, Facebook Live was launched.

Three years later it was used by terrorist Brenton Tarrant as he carried out the Christchurch Mosque shootings in New Zealand, which killed 51 people and left 40 injured.

AI now exists to help Facebook identify and block people from filming themselves carrying out atrocities.

Christchurch mosque shooter Brenton Tarrant streamed the attacks live on Facebook. Pic: Reuters
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Christchurch mosque shooter Brenton Tarrant streamed the attacks live on Facebook. Pic: Reuters

2017

A year after stories became a feature on Instagram, Zuckerberg and his developers introduced them on Facebook.

In a less popular move, Facebook 360 was launched to enable users to upload panoramic photos to their profiles.

2018

The Cambridge Analytica scandal came to a head in 2018, with a raid of their London offices and the company eventually disbanding.

It led to Zuckerberg being compelled to appear before US Congress to answer questions for the first time.

Cambridge Analytica's London offices in 2018. Pic: Reuters
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Cambridge Analytica’s London offices in 2018. Pic: Reuters

Facebook also suffered the fallout of another data breach that year in which hackers accessed logins of 50 million users.

And former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg joined the company as vice president of global affairs. He has since been promoted to president.

Nick Clegg, Facebook's president of global affairs. Pic: AP
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Nick Clegg, Facebook’s president of global affairs. Pic: AP

2019

Three separate data breaches continued to chip away at Facebook’s image in 2019.

The first saw 540 million users’ data made public, the second happened when Facebook “unintentionally” released emails of more than 1.5 million people, and the third saw the names, phone numbers and usernames of 267 million people made public.

In response to privacy concerns, Meta says it’s since invested $5.5bn (£4.3bn) to tackle the issue, with a team of 3,000 people worldwide.

“As expectations around privacy evolve, it’s critical for companies to continue investing in guardrails and processes to meet people’s privacy needs and expectations,” it said in a recent statement.

2020

A second FTC case against Facebook resulted in a court order banning it from monetising data acquired from profiles of users under 18 and limiting its use of AI.

This year, as part of its response to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook agreed to “fundamentally shift our approach to protecting people’s privacy” and paid a $5bn (£3.9bn) fine.

2021

As COVID continued to separate people all over the world from their loved ones, Zuckerberg announced Facebook Inc would become Meta.

Not only was Meta a parent company for Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and other assets, it also laid the groundwork for the ‘Metaverse’.

FILE PHOTO: Facebook's new rebrand logo Meta is seen on smartphone in front of displayed logo of Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Whatsapp and Oculus in this illustration picture taken October 28, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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Pic: Reuters

In its launch announcement, Zuckerberg described it as “letting you share immersive experiences with other people even when you can’t be together – and do things together you couldn’t do in the physical world” and the “next evolution in a long line of social technologies”.

In December 2021 a joint $150m (£118m) lawsuit sued Facebook over allegations it failed to address misinformation that promoted the genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

In response, Meta created a Myanmar-specific policy to remove praise, support, and advocacy of violence by Myanmar security forces and protesters on all its platforms. It has also banned the Myanmar military itself, including any pages, groups, and accounts representing military-controlled businesses.

Its latest statement added: “Our team continues to monitor the situation on the ground in Myanmar and we will continue to take any action necessary to keep our community safe.”

2022

Meta’s safeguarding measures against harmful content came under unprecedented scrutiny in 2022 when a UK coroner ruled that “negative online content” had played a role in someone’s suicide for the first time.

The case was that of Molly Russell, a 14-year-old schoolgirl from London, who was found dead in her bedroom in 2017.

Molly Russell's family have campaigned for better internet safety since her death in 2017.
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Molly Russell. Pic: PA

Her father Ian campaigned against under-regulated tech companies after evidence emerged she had viewed content that promoted self-harm and suicide on platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest.

The firm’s head of health and wellbeing, Elizabeth Lagone, attended the hearing in person and said many posts viewed by Molly would have violated Instagram’s policies, for which she apologised.

Elizabeth Lagone, Meta's head of health and well-being arrives at Barnet Coroner's Court, north London, to give evidence in the inquest into the death of Molly Russell. The 14-year-old schoolgirl from Harrow, north-west London, viewed an extensive volume of material on social media, including some linked to anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicide, before ending her life in November 2017. Picture date: Friday September 23, 2022.
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Elizabeth Lagone, Meta’s head of health and wellbeing, arrives at Molly Russell’s inquest. Pic: PA

2023

By 2023 the Metaverse had begun to cost its parent company dearly.

By the end of the year, Meta Reality Labs had haemorrhaged $46.5bn (£36bn). As such, 2023 quickly became Zuckerberg’s self-proclaimed “year of efficiency” with 21,000 planned job cuts.

A man tries out a Meta virtual reality headset. Pic: AP
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A man tries out a Meta virtual reality headset. Pic: AP

Meanwhile, Meta honed in on its rival X, formerly Twitter, which had not long been bought outright by Elon Musk. To do so it launched its own subscription service – Meta verified – and a separate X-style app for Instagram called Threads.

By the end of the year, Meta was also facing its third privacy case from the FTC in the US.

So what’s next?

In 2024 and beyond, Facebook’s challenges remain largely the same as recent years – and revolve mainly around misinformation and regulation.

Fears over profitability when billions were lost following the launch of the Metaverse in 2021 appear to have been reversed, with share prices reaching an all-time high.

Social media consultant and industry analyst Matt Navara says this is largely to do with job cuts that have enabled Zuckerberg’s AI work on the Metaverse to be a cash cow for the ad revenue business.

Similarly, the threat once posed by TikTok has mostly subsided with the success of Instagram Reels and TikTok’s growth plateauing. Meta has also benefited from Elon Musk’s takeover and rebranding of X, which has facilitated the launch of a rival app Threads.

Mr Navarra comments that Meta has often proved “like Teflon” in that “nothing very bad seems to stick for long”.

But as 2024 began for Zuckerberg answering awkward questions around online harms in the US Senate, it appears legislation that could curb how Meta’s platform operate is “closer than ever”.

“We’re at the point where it’s hard for US lawmakers to do nothing, with bipartisan support for new regulation coming through.”

But he says questions remain on how impactful legislation would be – as has been in the case in the UK and Europe.

Meta has already said it will stop under-18s from being able to view harmful content about self-harm and eating disorders.

And in a year when two billion people are going to the polls in elections, misinformation will be Meta’s ultimate test.

“All platforms will face criticism,” Mr Navarra says. “There will be headlines around the abuse of AI and what Meta’s role has been. It probably has the most advanced automated systems in place to tackle it, but undoubtedly things will slip through the cracks and I suspect it’ll never be enough.”

Beyond this year, Mr Navarra predicts that Zuckerberg’s vision of the Metaverse is still “someway out”, and possibly into the next decade, with virtual reality headsets unlikely to be commercially viable until at least 2027.

2024

So far in 2024, Meta has promised to hide content that promotes self-harm and eating disorders on Facebook and Instagram.

It says it plans to use the 40,000 staff it has working on safety and security worldwide and the $20bn invested since 2016 to make further progress on those issues.

Mark Zuckerberg returns to his seat after standing and facing the public.
Pic: Reuters
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Families hold up pictures of their children as Zuckerberg answers questions on online sexual exploitation. Pic: Reuters

And Zuckerberg has appeared before the US Senate, apologising to families whose children have fallen victim to online sexual exploitation on his platforms.

In response to this year’s elections, Meta has promised to block new political ads during the final week of the US election campaign and will require advertisers to disclose when they use AI in social or political posts.

Shares skyrocketed when it was announced shareholders would receive dividends from Meta for the first time at the start of February.

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Ukraine is turning warfare into a sci-fi battle of machines – and the West has work to do

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Ukraine is turning warfare into a sci-fi battle of machines - and the West has work to do

Ukrainians say they are in danger of losing the drone arms race with Russia and need more help.

And that is worrying not just for Ukraine, because the drone is becoming the likely weapon of choice in other future conflicts.

Sky News has been given exclusive access to a Ukrainian drone factory to watch its start up ingenuity at work. Ukrainians have turned the drone into their most effective weapon against the invaders.

But they are now, we are told, losing the upper hand in the skies over Ukraine.

General Cherry Drones was started by volunteers at the beginning of the war, making a 100 a month, but is now producing 1,000 times that. The company’s Andriy Lavrenovych said it is never enough.

Andriy Lavrenovych
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Andriy Lavrenovych

“The Russians have a lot of troops, a lot of vehicles and our soldiers every day tell us we need more, we need more weapons, we need better, we need faster, we need higher.”

The comments echo the words of Ukraine’s leader, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who told reporters this week “the Russians have increased the number of drones, while due to a lack of funding, we have not yet been able to scale up.”

The factory’s location is a closely-guarded secret, moved often. Russia strikes weapons factories when it can.

In a nondescript office building we watched drones being assembled and stacked in their thousands. Put together like toys, they are hand assembled and customised.

The quadcopters vary in size, some carry explosives to attack the enemy. Others fly as high as six kilometres to ambush Russian surveillance drones.

A combat drone is prepared by a Ukrainian soldier in the frontline town of Chasiv Yar. Pic:24th King Danylo Separate Brigade/Reuters
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A combat drone is prepared by a Ukrainian soldier in the frontline town of Chasiv Yar. Pic:24th King Danylo Separate Brigade/Reuters

A $1,000 (£743) Ukrainian drone can bring down an enemy aircraft worth 300 times as much.

Downstairs each drone is tested before it’s sent to the front. Nineteen-year-old Dima – not his real name – used to play with drones at home before it was occupied in Kherson Oblast.

Now he works here using his skills to check the drones are fit for battle.

But Russia is catching up. Sinister propaganda released this week filmed at one of its vast new drone factories shows hundreds of Geranium delta wing attack drones lined up ready to be launched at Ukraine.

Russia has refined the technology provided by Iranians to produce faster, more lethal versions of their Shahed drones. They have wreaked havoc and carnage, coming in their hundreds every night and killing scores of civilians. Ukraine expects 1,000 a night in the months ahead.

Russia is using scale and quantity to turn the tables on Ukrainians. And it is mastering drones controlled by fibre optic thread, trailing in their wake, that cannot be jammed.

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Oleksandr "Drakar", head of new product development
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Oleksandr “Drakar”, head of new product development

Oleksandr “Drakar”, head of new product development, showed us his company’s prototype fibre optic model. It is more effective than the Russians, he told us, but added: “The Russians began using the technology earlier and have scaled up production.

“They’ve had considerable help from the Chinese – entire factories there are under contract to supply fibre exclusively to Russia, producing it in vast quantities.”

Russia’s Chinese allies, who claim to be neutral in this conflict, are also throttling the supply of microchips and other parts vital to drone production. The West is not doing enough, say Ukrainians, to counterbalance the threat.

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Is NATO ready for drone war?

It is a constant race to beat the other side, innovation met by more innovation. This conflict is revolutionising warfare into a sci-fi battle of machines.

Ukrainians say 80% of battlefield strikes are now carried out by drones.

Whoever has the upper hand with them in this conflict is likely to have the edge in future wars. If the West wants to be on the winning side, it will need to give Zelenskyy and his drone start-up companies more help to maintain their edge.

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Israel may not be targeting journalists but it is certainly killing a lot of them

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Israel may not be targeting journalists but it is certainly killing a lot of them

It is an innocuous term for a horrible tactic. A “double tap” sounds so innocent and unthreatening. In fact, it is a term saved for a particularly brutal kind of attack.

And so it seems was the fate of those who died in the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza. First one strike hit the building, ripping away a chunk of the wall and injuring the people inside.

Fifteen minutes later, as rescuers and journalists rushed in, and as the scene was being broadcast live, a second explosion ripped through the courtyard, killing those who had come to help.

Nasser hospital in Gaza was damaged by an Israeli strike. Pic: AP
Image:
Nasser hospital in Gaza was damaged by an Israeli strike. Pic: AP

Latest updates: Israel strikes Nasser hospital

So the first tap causes harm and brings people to the scene; the second inflicts yet more devastation upon the people who came to help.

It’s a tactic that’s been used by a variety of countries over the years, most recently by Russia in Ukraine and, enthusiastically, by Bashar al Assad while he was president of Syria.

This time, it left more than 20 people dead, among them medics, patients, and five journalists. The scenes of carnage were horrendous – we saw images of death and destruction. One man, a journalist who survived the explosions, was filmed sitting in the hospital, his head and body soaked in blood, utterly dazed.

Nasser is the last fully functioning hospital in southern Gaza. To see it struck again was, in the words of British surgeon Professor Nick Maynard, “barbarism in the extreme”.

He told Sky News: “This hospital has been bombed several times over the last 22 months. It is murder. These are war crimes killing innocent civilians. As barbaric as anything I have seen in Gaza.”

Relatives and friends pray over the body of journalist Mariam Dagga. Pic: AP
Image:
Relatives and friends pray over the body of journalist Mariam Dagga. Pic: AP

Among the dead was photographer Mariam Daqqa. Hours before her death, her name appeared on the front page of a leading Israeli newspaper, a credit for a haunting photo she had taken of an emaciated child.

Her press vest, recovered from the rubble, was later laid across her coffin while her camera, still marked by her own blood, was held aloft.

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Who were the journalists killed by Israel?

Amanda Nasser, an American emergency nurse who had been working inside the hospital, survived by chance. “We were told to leave for [a] training session,” she said. “Thirty minutes later, the hospital was hit twice. Mariam was a dear friend. Getting that news broke me down.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the attack as “a tragic mishap” and an investigation has been opened. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) insists it does not deliberately target civilians; Mr Netanyahu says that Israel values the work of “journalists, health workers and all citizens”.

But it’s also a fact that Nasser hospital is a popular place for media workers to gather, to use the internet and to chase and trade stories. And if we know that, so does the Israeli military.

It would be naive to think that the chance of killing journalists, as well as, obviously, health workers, was not obvious to those who launched this attack. “We do not intentionally target civilians,” says the IDF’s spokesperson Effie Defrin. “We regret any harm to uninvolved individuals.”

And yet, somehow, it happened. Not just one explosion, but two.

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There are at least five different groups who try to keep track of how many journalists have been killed in Gaza. They all come up with different figures, but they agree that the total is above 200, and may even be more than 300.

And remember – foreign journalists are barred from entering Gaza, so the ability of the world to scrutinise what is actually happening on the ground in Gaza is largely dependent upon the work of these people, hundreds of whom are now dead.

Israel may not be targeting them, but it is certainly killing a lot of journalists along the way.

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This is a crucial moment in this conflict. Parts of Gaza have been designated as suffering from famine, just as Israel’s military might is readied for a huge operation to encircle and overwhelm Gaza City.

A ceasefire proposal is on the table, but Netanyahu seems reluctant to negotiate. On Tuesday, once again, Israel will face protests and strikes from those, including the families of hostages, demanding that their prime minister stop the war.

It is a volatile time, and Israel is a volatile country.

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Five journalists among 20 killed in Israeli strikes on hospital, Gaza health ministry says

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Five journalists among 20 killed in Israeli strikes on hospital, Gaza health ministry says

Israeli strikes on a hospital in southern Gaza have killed at least 20 people, including five journalists, according to the Gaza health ministry and the media organisations the journalists worked for.

Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis was struck twice on Monday in what has been described as a “double-tap” attack.

The initial strike hit the top floor of a building at Nasser Hospital. Minutes later, as journalists and rescue workers rushed to the scene, a second missile struck the same location, according to Dr Ahmed al Farra, head of the hospital’s paediatrics department.

Al Jazeera, the Associated Press (AP), and Reuters said their journalists were among those killed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he “deeply regrets” the incident, calling it a “tragic mishap”.

“Israel values the work of journalists, medical staff, and all civilians,” he added. “The military authorities are conducting a thorough investigation.”

A man holds the equipment used by Palestinian cameraman Hussam al Masri. Pic: Reuters
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A man holds the equipment used by Palestinian cameraman Hussam al Masri. Pic: Reuters

Rescuers work to recover the body of Palestinian cameraman Hussam al Masri. Pic: Reuters
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Rescuers work to recover the body of Palestinian cameraman Hussam al Masri. Pic: Reuters

A British consultant surgeon, who worked at the Nasser Hospital earlier this summer, described the attack on Monday morning as “barbarism in the extreme”.

More on Gaza

Consultant surgeon Professor Nick Maynard told Sky News it was a “typical double strike that the Israelis use frequently”. It targets an area, then hits it shortly afterwards, often when emergency services respond, he explained.

The Israeli military said its troops carried out a strike in the area of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis and that it would conduct an investigation into the incident. The military said it “regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and does not target journalists as such”.

In a further statement, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Effie Defrin said: “We are aware of reports that harm was caused to civilians, including journalists. I would like to be clear from the start – the IDF does not intentionally target civilians.

“The IDF makes every effort to mitigate harm to civilians, while ensuring the safety of our troops.”

He said forces were “operating in an extremely complex reality” and that Hamas “deliberately use civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, as shields”.

He said the findings of Israel’s investigation will be presented “as transparently as possible”.

Who are the journalists?

Mariam Dagga
Image:
Mariam Dagga

Mariam Dagga, 33, a visual journalist who freelanced for AP during the war, as well as other news outlets, was killed in Monday’s strike.

AP said in a statement that it was shocked and saddened by the death of Dagga and the loss of other journalists.

Dagga, a mother of a 12-year-old son who was evacuated from Gaza earlier in the war, frequently based herself at Nasser, the news agency said. Most recently, she reported on the hospital’s doctors struggling to save starving and malnourished children.

“We are doing everything we can to keep our journalists in Gaza safe as they continue to provide crucial eyewitness reporting in difficult and dangerous conditions,” AP said.

Independent Arabia, the Arabic-language edition of The Independent, said it also collaborated with Dagga.

Mohammed Salama
Image:
Mohammed Salama

Al Jazeera confirmed cameraman Mohammed Salama was among those killed.

Mohamed Moawad, managing editor of Al Jazeera, spoke to Sky News from Doha, Qatar, after Mr Salama was killed.

“They were reporting closer to the hospital, knowing that was somehow safer than the frontline,” he said. “We’re talking about a crime against journalism.”

Hussam al Masri
Image:
Hussam al Masri

Reuters said in a statement that it was “devastated” after two of its journalists were killed at the Nasser Hospital, and one was injured.

Moaz Abu Taha
Image:
Moaz Abu Taha

Contractor cameraman Hussam al Masri was also killed in the strikes on Nasser Hospital, Reuters said.

Moaz Abu Taha, a freelance journalist whose work had been occasionally published by Reuters, was also killed. Photographer Hatem Khaled, a Reuters contractor, was wounded.

Ahmed Abu Aziz
Image:
Ahmed Abu Aziz

A fifth journalist, Ahmed Abu Aziz, who worked as a freelance reporter, succumbed to his wounds following the strikes at the Nasser Hospital.

One of the bloodiest conflicts for media workers

The Israel-Hamas war has been among the deadliest conflicts for journalists, with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reporting at least 192 media workers killed in Gaza during the 22-month-long conflict.

The CPJ says that 18 journalists have died so far in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Thibaut Bruttin, director general of Reporters Without Borders, said press freedom advocates have never witnessed such a significant decline in journalist safety. He said journalists had been killed in both indiscriminate bombings and deliberate attacks.

“They are doing everything they can to silence independent voices that are trying to report on Gaza,” said Mr Bruttin.

Israel has accused journalists in Gaza of ties to militant groups, as in the case of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al Sharif, who was targeted and killed by Israeli forces earlier this month.

The Israeli military claimed Sharif led a Hamas cell, a charge both Al Jazeera and Sharif rejected as unfounded.

In the absence of direct access, news organisations largely depend on Palestinian journalists and local residents in Gaza to document and provide first-hand accounts of the events unfolding on the ground.

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Israel faces a decision after it kills at least 20 at hospital

Many journalists reporting from Gaza are enduring the same hardships as those they cover, including the daily struggle to secure food for themselves and their families.

“It is a particular burden that they carry, as well as living in a war zone,” Sky Middle East correspondent Adam Parsons said.

Additional casualties on Monday

In addition to the casualties at Nasser Hospital, medical officials in northern Gaza reported further fatalities resulting from strikes and gunfire along routes leading to aid distribution sites.

According to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, an airstrike on a neighbourhood claimed the lives of three Palestinians, including a child.

Al Awda Hospital in Deir al Balah reported six people attempting to reach a central Gaza aid distribution point were shot and killed in Israeli gunfire. The hospital said 15 others were wounded in the incident.

The IDF has previously “strongly rejected” accusations it targets civilians – and maintained its forces operate near aid sites to stop supplies from falling into the hands of militants.

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