A prominent Al Jazeera journalist, previously threatened by Israel, was killed alongside four colleagues in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday — an attack condemned by journalists’ unions and human rights groups.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the strike targeted and killed Anas Al Sharif, alleging he led a Hamas cell and was involved in rocket attacks against Israel. Al Jazeera firmly rejected the claim, and Al Sharif himself had previously dismissed similar accusations as baseless.
According to Gaza officials and Al Jazeera, the 28-year-old was among five media workers — including journalists Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, and Mohammed Noufal, as well as an assistant — who died when a tent near Shifa Hospital in eastern Gaza City was hit. Two other people were also reportedly killed.
Calling Al Sharif “one of Gaza’s bravest journalists,” Al Jazeera described the attack as a “desperate attempt to silence voices ahead of the occupation of Gaza.”
Al Sharif, a member of the Reuters photography team that won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, had long been on Israel’s radar. Last October, the Israeli military named him among six Gaza journalists it alleged were affiliated with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, citing purported training records and payroll documents — allegations both Al Sharif and Al Jazeera rejected.
“Al Jazeera categorically rejects the Israeli occupation forces’ portrayal of our journalists as terrorists and denounces their use of fabricated evidence,” the network said in an earlier statement.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which had called for Al Sharif’s protection in July, said Israel had failed to present credible proof to substantiate its allegations. “Israel’s pattern of labeling journalists as militants without providing credible evidence raises serious questions about its intent and respect for press freedom,” said Sara Qudah, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa Director.
U.N. Special Rapporteur Irene Khan had also warned that Al Sharif’s life was at risk due to his reporting, stressing that Israel’s claims lacked substantiation.
Shortly before his death, Al Sharif posted on social media that Gaza City had been under intense bombardment for more than two hours. In a farewell message prepared in case of his killing, he wrote: “I never hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or misrepresentation, hoping that God would witness those who remained silent.”
Hamas condemned the strike, saying it could mark the beginning of a new Israeli offensive: “The assassination of journalists and the intimidation of those who remain paves the way for a major crime the occupation is planning in Gaza City.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signaled plans for renewed military operations aimed at dismantling Hamas strongholds in Gaza, where a severe hunger crisis persists after nearly two years of conflict.
Al Jazeera noted that Al Sharif and his colleagues were “among the last remaining voices in Gaza conveying its tragic reality to the world.” The Hamas-run Gaza media office reported that 237 journalists have been killed since the war began on October 7, 2023, while CPJ’s count stands at 186 journalists killed in the conflict.
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