KEY POINTS:
• Five Al Jazeera journalists killed in targeted Israeli strike on media tent near Al-Shifa Hospital, according to multiple sources • Israel Defense Forces claims correspondent Anas al-Sharif was Hamas cell leader, allegations denied by Al Jazeera and press freedom groups • Committee to Protect Journalists reports 186 journalists killed in Gaza conflict, calling it deadliest for media workers on record • Strike occurred on marked press tent outside hospital entrance, according to hospital director
Five Al Jazeera journalists were killed in a targeted Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Sunday evening, according to the network and multiple international news sources. The Israel Defense Forces claimed one of the journalists was a Hamas operative, allegations that have been disputed by the network and press freedom organizations.
According to NBC News, the network said that correspondent Anas al-Sharif, journalist Mohammed Qreiqeh, and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa were killed in what Al Jazeera called “a targeted Israeli strike on a tent housing journalists in Gaza City.” CNN reported that al-Sharif was in a tent with other journalists near the entrance to Al-Shifa Hospital when he was killed, according to hospital director Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiya, who told CNN the tent was marked with a ‘Press’ sign.
The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that “the journalists were killed in an attack on a tent used by media near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City during an Israeli bombardment, according to Al Jazeera.” CPJ stated that in announcing al-Sharif’s killing, “Israel’s military accused the journalist of heading a Hamas cell and of ‘advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and [Israeli] troops.'”
According to NBC News, the Israel Defense Forces claimed that al-Sharif was “the head of a terrorist cell in the Hamas terrorist organization and was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops.” NBC News reported that “the IDF said in a statement about the killing that it had ‘previously disclosed intelligence information and many documents found in the Gaza Strip’ that it said confirm that al-Sharif was a member of Hamas.”
However, NBC News reported that “Al-Sharif and Al Jazeera have previously denied accusations that he was a terrorist.” The Committee to Protect Journalists stated that “Israel has a longstanding, documented pattern of accusing journalists of being terrorists without providing any credible proof.”
CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah told the organization: “Israel’s pattern of labeling journalists as militants without providing credible evidence raises serious questions about its intent and respect for press freedom. Journalists are civilians and must never be targeted. Those responsible for these killings must be held accountable.”
According to CNN, al-Sharif had responded to previous Israeli allegations last month, writing on social media: “I reaffirm: I, Anas Al-Sharif, am a journalist with no political affiliations. My only mission is to report the truth from the ground — as it is, without bias. At a time when a deadly famine is ravaging Gaza, speaking the truth has become, in the eyes of the occupation, a threat.”
CNN reported that in the minutes before his death, al-Sharif posted on social media: “If this madness does not end, Gaza will be reduced to ruins, its people’s voices silenced, their faces erased — and history will remember you as silent witnesses to a genocide you chose not to stop.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that CPJ had been “gravely worried” for al-Sharif’s safety in July, with the journalist telling the organization: “Adraee’s campaign is not only a media threat or an image destruction; it is a real-life threat. All of this is happening because my coverage of the crimes of the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip harms them and damages their image in the world. They accuse me of being a terrorist because the occupation wants to assassinate me morally.”
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, “since the start of the Israel-Gaza war on October 7, 2023, 186 journalists have been killed. At least 178 of those journalists are Palestinians killed by Israel.” NBC News reported that Al Jazeera said “that 10 of its staff have been killed by Israel since Israel launched the war in Gaza in 2023.”
CNN reported that “since the start of the war, Israel has not allowed international journalists to enter the Gaza Strip to report independently.” The network noted that “just hours before the strike that killed Al-Sharif and his colleagues, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said foreign journalists would now be allowed into Gaza, but only with IDF approval and accompanied by them, the same embed policy that has been in place since the beginning of the war.”
According to CNN, al-Sharif, who was 28, married and had two children, “had prepared a final message in the event of his death which was shared by his colleagues.” The message stated: “I urge you to care for my beloved daughter, Shams, the light of my eyes, whom time did not allow me to see grow as I had dreamed. And I recommend you to care for my dear son, Salah, whom I wished to be a support and companion on his journey.”
CNN reported that the United Nations had previously called Israel’s allegations that al-Sharif was a Hamas operative “online attacks and unfounded accusations.” The network cited UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression Irene Khan, who said two weeks ago: “I am deeply alarmed by repeated threats and accusations of the Israeli army against Anas Al-Sharif, the last surviving journalist of Al Jazeera in northern Gaza.”
According to Al Jazeera’s network statement as reported by multiple sources, the killings were part of what the network called “a desperate attempt to silence the voices exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza.”
NBC News reported that “over 61,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the offensive began, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the enclave,” following the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, “in which 251 people were taken hostage.”
