An Israeli strike in Gaza City has killed seven people, including at least five journalists from news network Al Jazeera.
The Israeli military confirmed it had targeted and killed Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif – a prominent journalist who has extensively covered the war from inside Gaza
Mohammed Qreiqeh, another Al Jazeera journalist in Gaza, was also killed along with camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa.
“The order to kill Anas Al-Sharif, one of Gaza’s bravest journalists, along with his colleagues, is a desperate attempt to silence voices ahead of the occupation of Gaza,” Al Jazeera said in a statement after the attack.
In the minutes before he was killed, Al-Sharif said on social media, “if this madness does not end, Gaza will be reduced to ruins, its people’s voices silenced, their faces erased — and history will remember you as silent witnesses to a genocide you chose not to stop.”
Al-Sharif was in a tent with other journalists near the entrance to the Al-Shifa Hospital when he was killed, according to hospital director Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiya.
The tent was reportedly marked with a ‘Press’ sign.
Israel accused Al-Sharif of leading a Hamas cell that “advanced rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops”.
“The IDF had previously shown documents it claimed showed ‘unequivocal proof’ of Al-Sharif’s ties to Hamas,” the IDF wrote in a statement after the strike.
“The IDF had previously disclosed intelligence information and many documents found in the Gaza Strip, confirming his military affiliation to Hamas.”
It is an allegation that Al-Sharif had previously denied, last month posting on social media that he was a “journalist with no political affiliations”.
“My only mission is to report the truth from the ground — as it is, without bias,” he had written.
“At a time when a deadly famine is ravaging Gaza, speaking the truth has become, in the eyes of the occupation, a threat.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said last month they were “gravely worried” for Al-Sharif’s safety and that the journalist feared for his life after he was the target of “an Israeli military smear campaign, which he believes is a precursor to his assassination”.
The organisation said 186 journalists had been killed since the beginning of the war nearly two years ago.
Al-Sharif, who was married and had two children, had prepared a final message in the event of his death which was shared by his colleagues.
“I urge you to care for my beloved daughter, Shams, the light of my eyes, whom time did not allow me to see grow as I had dreamed,” Al-Sharif wrote.
“And I recommend you to care for my dear son, Salah, whom I wished to be a support and companion on his journey until he grows strong enough to share the burden and continue the message.”
“I urge you not to be silenced by chains, nor to be hindered by borders, and to be bridges towards the liberation of the land and its people, until the sun of dignity and freedom shines upon our occupied homeland.”
The United Nations had previously called Israel’s allegations that Al-Sharif was a Hamas operative “online attacks and unfounded accusations.”
“I am deeply alarmed by repeated threats and accusations of the Israeli army against Anas Al-Sharif, the last surviving journalist of Al Jazeera in northern Gaza,” said Irene Khan, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, two weeks ago.
Israel has not allowed international journalists to enter the Gaza Strip since the war began.
Just hours before the strike that killed Al-Sharif and his colleagues, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said foreign journalists would now be allowed into Gaza, but only with IDF approval.
Follow STV News on WhatsApp
Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
