Israel Targets and Kills Five More Journalists in Gaza
Aug. 11—Israel’s escalated attack on Gaza City Aug. 10 targeted and hit a tent housing journalists, outside the main gate of the Al-Shifa Hospital, killing five journalists and two others. Al Jazeera reported that their well-known journalist Anas al-Sharif was among the dead. The other four deceased are Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, and its camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa.
The Al Jazeera Media Network condemned the killings as “yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom…. This attack comes amid the catastrophic consequences of the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza, which has seen the relentless slaughter of civilians, forced starvation, and the obliteration of entire communities. The order to assassinate Anas al-Sharif, one of Gaza’s bravest journalists, and his colleagues, is a desperate attempt to silence the voices exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza.”
Shortly before his death, al-Sharif posted on X that Israel had launched intense, concentrated bombardment—also known as “fire belts”—on the eastern and southern parts of Gaza City. His last video showed flashes of orange light with loud bombs of missile bombing. He commented, translated to English: “Nonstop bombing…. For the past two hours, the Israeli aggression on Gaza City has intensified.”
An Isreal Defense Force (IDF) statement claimed that al-Sharif headed a Hamas cell and “advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and troops.” It claimed documents, not revealed, proved his involvement with Hamas. Muhammed Shehada, an analyst at the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, said there was “zero evidence” that al-Sharif took part in any hostilities. “His entire daily routine was standing in front of a camera from morning to evening.”
Lethal targeting of the journalist was in evidence last month, when IDF spokesman Avichai Adraee shared a video on social media that accused al-Sharif of being a member of Hamas’s military wing. Irene Khan, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of expression, said that she was “deeply alarmed by repeated threats and accusations of the Israeli army” against al-Sharif. “Fears for al-Sharif’s safety are well-founded as there is growing evidence that journalists in Gaza have been targeted and killed by the Israeli army on the basis of unsubstantiated claims that they were Hamas terrorists.” The IDF has killed more than 200 reporters and media workers since Oct. 7, 2023.
Al Jazeera released a statement from al-Sharif, written on April 6, in the event of his death. He said that he “lived the pain in all its details” and “tasted grief and loss repeatedly. Despite that, I never hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or misrepresentation, hoping that God would witness those who remained silent, those who accepted our killing, and those who suffocated our very breaths. Not even the mangled bodies of our children and women moved their hearts or stopped the massacre that our people have been subjected to for over a year and a half.”
He also expressed sorrow for having to leave behind his wife, Bayan, and for not seeing his son, Salah, and daughter, Sham, grow up.