BERLIN

Germany said on Monday it was “shocked” over a deadly Israeli missile strike in Gaza, which killed a child and an employee of a production company working for the German public broadcaster ZDF.

"The news of the shelling and the killing of two people, including an 8-year-old child, is deeply shocking,” Kathrin Deschauer, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said at a press briefing in Berlin.

She added that it was “important to investigate ” the lethal Israeli attack.

Deschauer reiterated that humanitarian aid workers, journalists, rescue workers, and civilians "are naturally under special protection.”

The premises of the production company Palestine Media Production (PMP) in Deir el Balah, southern Gaza, were reportedly hit by a rocket on Sunday afternoon. The company has been working for decades with the ZDF studio in Tel Aviv.

A 37-year-old engineer from the company and the 8-year-old son of another employee were killed in the attack. Another unnamed PMP staff member, aged 31, was injured. Images taken after the attack show that the SNG (satellite news gathering) transmission van, as well as team vehicles, were also destroyed.

Reacting to the Israeli strike, ZDF Editor-in-Chief Bettina Schausten said: "Our thoughts are with the victims and their families, to whom we express our deepest condolences. It is unacceptable that media professionals are attacked while carrying out their work."​​​​​​​

Over 250 journalists have now been killed in Gaza, more than in any other conflict in modern times.

Since October 2023, Israel’s genocidal war has killed more than 68,000 people and injured more than 170,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.