An Israeli airstrike on Sunday claimed the life of a prominent Al Jazeera journalist, Anas al-Sharif and four of his colleagues in Gaza City. The attack was widely condemned by journalists and right groups.
The attack on a tent located outside the main gate of Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital late on Sunday evening killed a total of seven people. In addition to the journalist, Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Moamen Aliwa and Mohammed Noufal were also killed.
According to the Israeli military, it targeted and killed the Al Jazeera journalist, Anas Al Sharif, alleging that the journalist had headed a Hamas militant cell and was involved in rocket attacks on Israel.
Both the journalist and the media organization, Al Jazeera, rejected these accusations by Israel even before the death of Al Sharif.
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Al Jazeera, describing Al Sharif as “one of Gaza’s bravest journalists,” said the attack was a “desperate attempt to silence voices in anticipation of the occupation of Gaza.”
Qatar’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, said on X that “the deliberate targeting of journalists by Israel in the Gaza Strip reveals how these crimes are beyond imagination.”
The United Nations human rights office condemned the killings of journalists, saying the actions by the Israeli military presented a “grave breach of international humanitarian law.”
The Israeli military stated that Al Sharif headed a Hamas cell and “was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF (Israeli) troops.” They cited intelligence and documents found in Gaza as evidence, though these were not made public.
Israel denies deliberately targeting journalists, claiming that most of those killed in airstrikes were members of Islamist militant groups disguised as workers of the press.
