“I never imagined that one day I would be living and working in a tent, deprived of the most basic human necessities – even water and a bathroom.

“It’s more like a greenhouse in the summer and a refrigerator in the winter,” journalist Abdullah Miqdad told the BBC.

After 22 months of war in Gaza, most journalists find themselves working in tents around hospitals in order to access the electricity and reliable internet connection they need to do their jobs.

Power has been cut off across Gaza, so hospitals, whose generators are still functioning, provide the electricity to charge phones and equipment, and offer high points with better mobile reception.

But working at hospitals has not afforded them safety, with Israeli strikes on hospitals and their compounds killing a number of journalists during the conflict.

On Monday, five journalists were among at least 20 people killed in a double Israeli strike on Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis.

International news outlets, including the BBC, rely on local reporters within Gaza, as Israel does not allow them to send journalists into the territory except on rare occasions when they are embedded with Israeli troops.

At least 197 journalists and media workers have been killed since the war in Gaza began following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 – 189 of them Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza, according to the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Ahed Farwana of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate in Gaza told the BBC that he and his colleagues felt targeted by Israeli forces “which leaves us in constant fear for our own safety and that of our families”.

After nearly two years of war, journalists are exhausted from non-stop work, but demand for news coverage persists.

This has opened the door for young people in Gaza, some of whom had never worked in journalism before, to become reporters and photojournalists.

Some journalists work officially for local or international media outlets, but many are hired on temporary contracts. This means their employment is less predictable and the protective equipment, insurance, and resources they receive varies greatly.

“Every journalist in the world has the right to enjoy international protection. Unfortunately, the Israeli military does not treat journalists this way, especially when it comes to Palestinian journalists,” Ghada al-Kurd, a correspondent for German magazine Der Spiegel, told the BBC (for which she also sometimes works).

Israel has repeatedly denied that its forces target journalists.

However, the Israeli military said it did target Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif in his media tent in Gaza City on 10 August, in a strike that also killed three other Al Jazeera staff, two freelancers, and one other man. The military alleged Sharif had “served as the head of a terrorist cell in Hamas”, which he had denied before his death.

The CPJ said Israel had failed to provide evidence to back up its allegation, and accused Israeli forces of targeting journalists in a “deliberate and systematic attempt to cover up Israel’s actions” in Gaza.

Reuters cameraman Husam al-Masri was killed in the first strike on Nasser hospital on Monday. The second strike, minutes later, killed rescue workers and four other journalists who had arrived at the scene – Mariam Abu Dagga, a freelancer working with the Associated Press; Al Jazeera cameraman Mohammad Salama; freelance journalist Ahmed Abu Aziz and freelance video journalist Moaz Abu Taha.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incident as a “tragic mishap”.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday that, after an initial inquiry, “it appears” troops struck “a camera that was positioned by Hamas in the area of the Nasser Hospital that was being used to observe the activity of [Israeli] troops”. It also identified six people whom it said were “terrorists” killed in the strikes. None of the five journalists were among them.

The military provided no evidence and gave no explanation for the second strike.

“When you’re working inside a tent, you never know what might happen at any moment. Your tent or its surroundings could be bombed – what do you do then?” says Abdullah Miqdad, who is a correspondent for Qatar-based Al-Araby TV.

“In front of the camera, I have to be highly focused, mentally alert, and quick-witted despite the exhaustion. But the harder part is staying aware of everything happening around me and thinking about what I could do if the place I’m in is targeted,” he told the BBC.

Last Friday, famine was confirmed in Gaza City for the first time by a UN-backed body responsible for monitoring food security.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reported that more than 500,000 people in the Gaza Strip were facing “starvation, destitution and death”.

The journalists in Gaza are suffering the same extreme hunger as those they are covering.

“A cup of coffee mixed with ground chickpeas, or a glass of unsweetened tea, might be all you can consume during an entire workday,” says independent journalist Ahmed Jalal.

“We suffer from severe headaches and fatigue, unable to walk from the sheer hunger,” he told the BBC, “but we still carry on with our work.”

Ahmed has been displaced many times with his family, yet each time he has continued his journalistic work while trying to secure food, water and shelter for his family.

“My heart breaks from the intense pain when I report the killing of fellow journalists, and my mind tells me I might be next… The pain consumes me inside, but I hide it from the camera and keep working.”

“I feel suffocated, exhausted, hungry, scared – and I can’t even stop to rest.”

Ghada Al-Kurd says two years of covering news about death and hunger has changed her.

“During this war, we have lost the ability to express our emotions,” Ghada told the BBC. “We are in a constant state of shock. Maybe we will regain this ability after the war ends.”

Until that day comes, Ghada holds back her fear for her two daughters and her grief for her brother and his family, whose bodies she believes are still buried under rubble following an Israeli strike in northern Gaza early in the war.

“The war has changed our psyches and personalities. We will need a long period of healing to return to who we were before 7 October 2023.”

Photojournalist Amer Sultan in Gaza assisted in preparing the report.

The Israeli military has told Palestinians that the evacuation of Gaza City is “inevitable”, as its forces prepare to conquer it.

In a post on X on Wednesday, the military’s Arabic spokesman Avichay Adraee said families relocating to the south would “receive the most generous humanitarian aid”.

Israeli tanks pushed into a new area of Gaza City overnight, forcing more residents to flee, witnesses said. Thousands have already moved because of recent Israeli advances – mostly to other parts of the city, where about a million Palestinians still live.

The evacuation call comes as US President Donald Trump is expected to chair a meeting on a post-war vision for Gaza at the White House.

In early August, Israel announced plans to occupy the whole Gaza Strip – including Gaza City, which it described as Hamas’s last stronghold.

The UN and non-governmental organisations have warned that an Israeli offensive in Gaza City would have a “horrific humanitarian impact”.

Late on Tuesday, tanks entered the Ibad al-Rahman district, in the city’s northern outskirts, destroying several homes, Reuters news agency reported.

“All of a sudden, we heard that the tanks pushed into Ibad al-Rahman, the sounds of explosions became louder and louder, and we saw people escaping towards our area,” Saad Abed told Reuters in a message from his home in Jala Street, about 1km (0.6 miles) away.

On Wednesday, the tanks reportedly retreated to Jabalia, an area further north where they have been operating.

Bombardment also continued in Gaza City’s Shejaiya, Zeitoun and Sabra districts.

The Israeli military said in a statement on Wednesday that its troops had engaged in combat in the Jabalia area and on the outskirts of Gaza City, adding that they had eliminated a “terrorist cell” and located a weapons storage facility.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Israel’s intention to conquer the entire Gaza Strip after indirect talks with Hamas on a ceasefire and hostage release deal broke down last month.

But Netanyahu is facing both international and domestic pressure.

On Tuesday evening, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv demanding a ceasefire deal to bring home the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Only 20 of the 50 hostages are believed to be alive.

In Washington on Tuesday, US special envoy Steve Witkoff said the White House was working on “a very comprehensive plan” for post-war Gaza.

He told Fox News that the plan “for the next day” would be discussed at a “large meeting in the White House” chaired by Trump on Wednesday.

He gave no details but said he expected the conflict in Gaza to be settled “one way or another, certainly before the end of this year”.

Israel’s military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

Almost 62,900 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Most of Gaza’s population has also been displaced multiple times; more than 90% of homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed; and the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed; and UN-backed global food security experts have confirmed that there is famine in the Gaza City area.