Anas al-Sharif, a prominent Al Jazeera correspondent, was killed along with four colleagues in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday night. The strike hit a tent for journalists outside al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Seven people died in total, including Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa.
The Israel Defense Force admitted the strike, claiming al-Sharif was a Hamas militant responsible for rocket attacks. Rights advocates dismissed the claim as lacking evidence, saying he was targeted for his frontline reporting. Al Jazeera called the attack “a desperate attempt to silence voices.”
Last month, Israeli spokesperson Avichai Adraee accused al-Sharif of being a Hamas member, a claim the UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression called “unsubstantiated.” In July, al-Sharif told the Committee to Protect Journalists he lived with the fear of being bombed at any moment.
The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the killings, stating, “Israel’s pattern of labelling journalists as militants without providing credible evidence raises serious questions about its intent and respect for press freedom.” The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate described the attack as a “bloody crime” of assassination.
Al-Sharif, 28, leaves behind a wife and two children. His father was killed in an Israeli strike in December 2023. In a final message posted after his death, al-Sharif said he had “never once hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification.”
