PARIS, Aug 26, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - World powers and NGOs voiced shock at the killing of five journalists among 20 victims reported by Gaza's civil defence agency in an Israeli strike on a hospital on Monday in the town of Khan Yunis.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "Israel deeply regrets the tragic mishap," adding that the military was investigating.

He said that Israel's war war was against the militant group Hamas, and his government "values the work of journalists, medical staff, and all civilians".

Here is a roundup of world reactions so far.

- UN: 'justice' -

UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement that journalists and hospitals should never be targeted.

"The killing of journalists in Gaza should shock the world -- not into stunned silence but into action, demanding accountability and justice."

The head of the UN's agency for Palestinian affairs UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, described the strike as "silencing the last remaining voices reporting about children dying silently amid famine", in a post on X.

- Trump: 'Not happy' -

Questioned by reporters at the White House, US President Donald Trump said he had not yet received news of the strike but added: "I'm not happy about it. I don't want to see it."

He said, "at the same time, we have to end that whole nightmare" in Gaza, where militant group Hamas is holding hostages seized in Israel.

- Germany: 'shocked' -

In Israel's staunch European ally Germany, the foreign ministry said it was "shocked by the killing of several journalists, rescue workers, and other civilians" in the Nasser Hospital strike.

"This attack must be investigated," the ministry said on X, also calling on Israel to "allow immediate independent foreign media access and afford protection for journalists operating in Gaza".

- UK: 'horrified' -

UK foreign minister David Lammy said he was "horrified" by the hospital strike.

"Civilians, healthcare workers and journalists must be protected. We need an immediate ceasefire," Lammy wrote on X.

- Qatar: 'heinous'

In Qatar, which has been trying to mediate a halt to the fighting in Gaza, the foreign ministry condemned the strike as "a new episode in the ongoing series of heinous crimes" by Israel.

"The occupation's approach of targeting journalists and relief and medical workers requires urgent and decisive international action to provide the necessary protection for civilians and ensure that the perpetrators of these atrocities do not escape punishment," it said in a statement.

- Iran: 'war crime' -

In Israel's fierce adversary Iran, foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghai condemned the hospital strike as a "brutal war crime, planned and perpetrated by the Zionist regime as part of a plan for the genocide of the Palestinians".

He demanded the United States be held to account as "complicit" for supporting Israel.

- MSF: 'heartbroken' -

Medical aid charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it was "heartbroken" by the death in the strike of a freelance photographer who had previously worked for it, Mariam Abu Dagga.

"As Israel continues to shun international law, the only witnesses of their genocidal campaign are deliberately being targeted. It must stop now," it said.

- Press: 'abhorrent' -

The Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem called for an "immediate explanation" from the Israeli military and called for it "to halt its abhorrent practice of targeting journalists".