Press freedom group PEN America said the killing of the five journalists in Gaza “raises grave concerns” and “could amount to a war crime”.

“This attack not only wiped out an entire team of journalists – at a time when there are fewer and fewer voices able to report from Gaza – but also took six more Palestinian lives in an onslaught that has already claimed thousands of lives,” said Liesl Gerntholtz, managing director of its PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Center.