Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif has been killed
alongside four colleagues in a targeted Israeli attack on a tent housing
journalists in Gaza City.
Seven people were killed overall in the attack on the tent
located outside the main gate of Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital late on Sunday
evening. They include Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera
operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa.
Shortly before being killed, al-Sharif, a well-known
28-year-old Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who had reported extensively from
northern Gaza, wrote on X that Israel had launched intense, concentrated
bombardment – also known as “fire belts” – on the eastern and southern parts of
Gaza City.
In his last video, the loud booms of Israel’s intensive
missile bombing can be heard in the background as the dark sky is lit in a
flash of orange light.
Translation: Nonstop bombing… For the past two hours, the
Israeli aggression on Gaza City has intensified.
In a final message, written on April 6, to be published in
the event of his death, al-Sharif said 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,” he said.
“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.”
The reporter also expressed sorrow for having had to leave
his wife, Bayan, behind, and for not seeing his son, Salah, and daughter, Sham,
grow up.
‘Desperate attempt to silence voices’
In a statement, 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
network said.
“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.”
Al Jazeera called on the international community and all
relevant organisations to “take decisive measures to halt this ongoing genocide
and end the deliberate targeting of journalists”.
“Al Jazeera emphasises that immunity for perpetrators and
the lack of accountability embolden Israel’s actions and encourage further
oppression against witnesses to the truth,” the network said.
Al Jazeera correspondent Hani Mahmoud, who was just one
block away when the strike hit, said reporting on al-Sharif’s killing was the
hardest thing he has had to do in the past 22 months of war.
Mahmoud, who works for the network’s English channel, said
the reporters were killed “because of their relentless reporting on the
starvation and the famine and the malnutrition” suffered by Palestinians in
Gaza, “because they’re bringing the truth of this crime to everyone”.
No proof of Hamas affiliation
In a statement confirming the deliberate killing of
al-Sharif, Israel’s military accused the journalist of heading a Hamas cell and
“advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and [Israeli] troops”. It
also alleged that it had documents providing “unequivocal proof” of his
involvement with the Palestinian group.
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,” he told Al Jazeera.
Last month, after Israeli army spokesperson Avichai
Adraee reshared a video on social media accusing al-Sharif of
being a member of Hamas’s military wing, the United Nations special rapporteur
on freedom of expression, Irene Khan, said she was “deeply alarmed by repeated
threats and accusations of the Israeli army” against al-Sharif.
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“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,” Khan said.
Al Jazeera, which has accused Israeli authorities of
fabricating evidence to link its staff to Hamas, had recently denounced
Israel’s military for waging a “campaign
of incitement” against its reporters in the Gaza Strip, including
al-Sharif.
The Committee to Protect Journalists last month said it was
gravely concerned for the journalist’s safety as he was being “targeted by an
Israeli military smear campaign”.
Since Israel launched its war on the enclave in October
2023, it has routinely accused
Palestinian journalists in Gaza of being Hamas members as part of what
rights groups say is an effort to discredit their reporting of Israeli abuses.
The Israeli military has killed more than 200 reporters and media workers since its bombardment began, including several Al Jazeera journalists and their relatives.