Five Al Jazeera journalists were killed in an Israeli strike near Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, the broadcaster has confirmed.
Correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, along with cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa, were in a press tent at the hospital’s main entrance when the strike hit, Al Jazeera reported.
The network described the attack as a “targeted assassination” and “yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom”.
Shortly after, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had targeted al-Sharif, claiming in a Telegram post that he had “served as the head of a terrorist cell in Hamas”. The IDF did not mention the other journalists killed.
Seven people in total died in the strike. Al Jazeera initially reported four staff deaths, later revising the figure to five.
Al-Sharif, 28, was an accredited journalist and “the only voice” for the world to know what was happening in Gaza, managing editor Mohamed Moawad told the BBC. “They were targeted in their tent, they weren’t covering from the front line,” he said.
“The fact is that the Israeli government is wanting to silence the coverage of any channel of reporting from inside Gaza. This is something that I haven’t seen before in modern history.”
Al-Sharif appeared to be posting on X shortly before his death, warning of heavy bombardment. A later post is believed to have been pre-written and published by a friend.
Footage shows bodies being carried from the scene. Some call out Qreiqeh’s name, while a man in a media vest identifies al-Sharif.
The IDF accused al-Sharif of posing as a journalist and being “responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops”. It said it had “disclosed intelligence” linking him to “lists of terrorist training courses”.
Last month, Al Jazeera, the United Nations and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) warned that al-Sharif’s life was in danger. CPJ chief executive Jodie Ginsberg said Israel often claims journalists killed by its forces are terrorists but provides “very little evidence” to support such accusations.
This is not the first time Al Jazeera journalists have been killed in Gaza by Israeli strikes. In August last year, reporter Ismael Al-Ghoul was killed in his car, along with cameraman Rami al-Rifi and a boy passing on a bicycle.
The IDF claimed al-Ghoul took part in the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, a claim the network rejected.
According to CPJ, 186 journalists have been killed since Israel’s military campaign began in Gaza in October 2023. Journalists still working in the territory face not only air strikes but also starvation.
The BBC and three other news agencies recently expressed “desperate concern” for reporters in Gaza, citing accounts of journalists going days without food.
More than 100 aid groups have warned of mass starvation, while Israel, which controls aid entry, accuses the organisations of “serving the propaganda of Hamas”.
Israel’s offensive began after the Hamas-led 7 October attack on southern Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says more than 61,000 have been killed since the war began.
