Israel kills five Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza

Five journalists, including well-known correspondent Anas al-Sharif, were killed in an Israeli attack in Gaza. Israel admits intentional strike and claims reporter ‘was a Hamas member,’ which was denied by the TV network. Press organizations condemn the deaths. A well-known journalist from the Al Jazeera television network was killed along with four colleagues in an Israeli attack on Sunday (10/08) in the Gaza Strip. The targeted military action, admitted by Israel, was condemned by journalist organizations and human rights groups. Israeli military confirmed targeting and killing Anas al-Sharif, claiming he led a Hamas cell and was involved in attacks against Israel. Al Jazeera rejected the claim. Before his death, Sharif also denied Israel’s accusations of having links to Hamas, a fundamentalist group considered a terrorist organization by the European Union (EU), Germany, the United States (US), and others. NGOs that denounced the attack stated that Sharif became a target due to his frontline reporting in the war in Gaza and that Israel’s allegations lack evidence. ‘Trying to silence voices’ Sharif, 28, was among a group of four journalists from the Qatari network Al Jazeera and an assistant who died in a targeted attack on a tent near Al-Shifa Hospital in eastern Gaza City, according to information from Gaza authorities and Al Jazeera network. A hospital official said the attack killed two other people and damaged the entrance of the hospital’s emergency sector. Calling Sharif ‘one of the bravest journalists in Gaza,’ Al Jazeera stated the attack was a ‘desperate attempt to silence voices in anticipation of the occupation of Gaza.’ The other slain journalists were Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, and Mohammed Noufal, according to Al Jazeera. The Prime Minister of Qatar, the home country of Al Jazeera, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani, condemned the journalists’ deaths. ‘These crimes are unimaginable’ and reveal ‘the inability of the international community and its laws to prevent this tragedy.’ Pulitzer Prize Sharif was part of a Reuters team that, in 2024, won the Pulitzer Prize in the Breaking News Photography category for their coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas. Israeli military stated in a release that Sharif was the head of a Hamas cell and ‘responsible for promoting rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) troops,’ citing intelligence information and documents found in Gaza. Israel accuses journalist of being a ‘terrorist’ In a social media post, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) justified the attack on Sharif by stating he was ‘a terrorist.’ ‘Target struck: Hamas terrorist Anas Al-Sharif, who posed as an Al Jazeera journalist. Al-Sharif was the leader of a Hamas terrorist cell and promoted rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops. Intelligence information and documents from Gaza, including lists of members, terrorist training lists, and salary records, prove he was a Hamas agent integrated with Al Jazeera. A press badge is not a shield for terrorism,’ the post says. According to the BBC, there are indications that Sharif may have worked in a Hamas media arm before the conflict, but there are no concrete signs that he ‘led a terrorist cell’ as Israel claims. Israel also had no comment on the other journalists killed in the attack. It was the first time since the start of the war that Israeli forces quickly took responsibility for the death of a journalist in an attack. Gaza ruins: shortly before his death, Pulitzer Prize winner Sharif reported that the city had been bombed for over two hours Photo: Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua/IMAGO Journalist associations criticize attack A press freedom group and United Nations representatives had previously warned that Sharif’s life was in danger due to his reports from Gaza. UN Special Rapporteur Irene Khan stated last month that Israel’s allegations against him were unfounded. Al Jazeera stated that Sharif had left a message on social media to be published in case of his death, saying: ‘I have never hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or misrepresentation, hoping that God would be a witness for those who remained silent.’ Last October, Israeli military identified Sharif as one of six Gaza journalists who, they claimed, were Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad members, citing documents they said showed lists of people who completed training courses and received salaries. ‘Al Jazeera categorically rejects the Israeli occupation forces’ description of our journalists as terrorists and denounces the use of fabricated evidence,’ the network stated in a release at the time. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which in July urged the international community to protect Sharif, stated in a release that Israel provided no evidence to support its claims against him. ‘Israel’s pattern of labeling journalists as militants without providing reliable evidence raises serious questions about its intention and respect for press freedom,’ said Sara Qudah, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa director. Following the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, Israel banned international journalists from entering Gaza. Since then, documenting the war has fallen almost exclusively on local Palestinian journalists, often under intense risk. According to CPJ, 186 journalists have been killed since the start of Israel’s military offensive. In July, three major international news agencies — Reuters, AP, and AFP — issued a joint statement expressing ‘deep concern’ for their journalists in Gaza, pointing out that they are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families. Last post minutes before death Sharif, whose X account had over 500,000 followers, posted on the platform minutes before his death stating that Israel had been heavily bombing Gaza City for over two hours. The Palestinian militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, stated that the killing could signal the start of an Israeli offensive. ‘The killing of journalists and the intimidation of those who remain pave the way for a major crime that the occupation plans to commit in Gaza City,’ Hamas said in a statement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated he would launch a new offensive to dismantle Hamas strongholds in Gaza, where the food crisis worsens after 22 months of war. ‘Anas al-Sharif and his colleagues were among the last voices remaining in Gaza to convey the tragic reality to the world,’ Al Jazeera said. Gaza government’s press office, run by Hamas, reported that 237 journalists have been killed since the start of the war on October 7, 2023. CPJ stated that at least 186 journalists were killed in the Gaza conflict. Conflicted relationship In 2024, Israel banned Al Jazeera from operating in the country, claiming its coverage posed a threat to national security. At the time, the ban followed a law passed in April by the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, authorizing the closure of foreign broadcasters that threaten national security amidst the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza. That same year, military forces invaded and shut down a branch of the network in the occupied West Bank. The Qatari broadcaster was founded in 1996 and stood out internationally for its critical coverage of the Arab world as well. Israel, in turn, has had a tense relationship with the media organization, whose coverage of the war in Gaza has focused particularly on the Palestinian side. Israel often accuses the channel of collaborating with Hamas and promoting the radical Islamic group. Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed in 2022 in the occupied West Bank Photo: Al Jazeera Media Network/AP/picture alliance In the past decade, Saudi Arabia and Jordan also closed local offices of the channel. The network’s signal has also been blocked in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Syria, and Bahrain. One of the few news outlets that continued operating in Gaza after the conflict began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a terrorist offensive against Israel, Al Jazeera aired footage and videos of deadly airstrikes and crowded hospitals under Israeli fire. In January 2024, the network had already accused Israeli forces of deliberately killing two of its journalists in Gaza. In 2022, the channel also accused Israeli troops of murdering Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.