Israel strike kills Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza

Anas Al Sharif, a prominent 28-year-old Al Jazeera journalist, was killed alongside four colleagues and an assistant in an Israeli airstrike on a tent near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Israel’s military claimed Al Sharif was the leader of a Hamas cell responsible for rocket attacks, citing intelligence and documents found in Gaza. Al Jazeera and press freedom groups rejected the claims, accusing Israel of fabricating evidence to justify targeting journalists.

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Al Sharif had previously been named by Israel as one of six Gaza journalists allegedly affiliated with Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, accusations he denied. In 2024, he was part of a Reuters team that won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography covering the Israel-Hamas war. Before his death, Al Sharif posted online that Gaza City was under intense bombardment for more than two hours. Al Jazeera described him as “one of Gaza’s bravest journalists” and said the attack aimed to silence voices before a possible Israeli offensive.

The killing of Anas Al Sharif and his colleagues has drawn strong condemnation from media rights organizations and the United Nations. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Israel has a pattern of labeling reporters as militants without credible evidence, raising questions about its respect for press freedom. U.N. Special Rapporteur Irene Khan previously warned that Al Sharif’s life was at risk due to his reporting and dismissed Israeli claims as unsubstantiated.

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The Hamas-run Gaza government media office says 237 journalists have been killed since the war began on October 7, 2023, while CPJ has documented at least 186 journalist deaths in the conflict. Hamas condemned the attack, saying it signals a possible Israeli assault on Gaza City. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced plans for a new offensive to dismantle Hamas strongholds amid a worsening hunger crisis after 22 months of war.

Al Jazeera said Al Sharif had left a message to be posted in the event of his death, declaring that he never hesitated to report the truth without distortion. The network called the attack a “desperate attempt to silence voices” that continue to convey Gaza’s realities to the world.