Jerusalem
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Israeli strike in Gaza city late Sunday night killed seven people, including at least four journalists, from news network Al Jazeera.
Israeli forces have said they targeted and killed Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al Sharif. Anas al-Sharif claimed that he had previously denied al-Sharif, a well-known journalist who had extensively covered the war from within Gaza – after accusing him of leading Hamas cell.
Another Al Jazeera journalist in Gaza, Mohamed Kreike, and photojournalists Ibrahim Al Taha and Mohamed Nofal, were also killed in the strike, the network said.
“The order to kill Anas Al Sharif, one of Gaza’s brave journalists, along with his colleagues, is a hopeless attempt to silence his voice ahead of Gaza’s occupation,” 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 doesn’t end, Gaza will be reduced to the abandoned ins, their voices will be silent and their faces will be erased.
According to the hospital’s director Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiyah, Al Sharif was in a tent with other journalists near the entrance to Al Shifa Hospital when he was killed. The tent had a “press” sign, Abu Salmiyah told CNN. The strike killed at least seven people, Salmiya added.
The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) accused Al-Sharif of leading Hamassel in Gaza, “an advanced rocket attack on Israeli civilians and IDF forces.” The IDF previously presented documents that claimed to have provided “clear evidence” of Al-Sharif’s relationship with Hamas. “The IDF previously disclosed intelligence news information and many documents found in the Gaza Strip, confirming its military affiliation with Hamas,” the military said in a post-strike statement.
He responded in a social media message last month after IDF accused Al-Sharif, 28, of being a Hamas member.
“I reaffirm. I, Anas Al Sharif, is a journalist with no political affiliation. My only mission is to report the truth from the ground. “When fatal hunger is destroying Gaza, speaking the truth has become a threat to the eyes of occupation.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in July that he was “significantly worried” about Al-Sharif’s safety, and that the journalists feared his life, saying they were “a target of Israel’s military smear campaign.”
The organization added that 186 journalists have been killed since the start of the war almost two years ago, and that “178 of the journalists are Palestinians who have been killed by Israel.”
Since the start of the war, Israel has not allowed international journalists to enter the Gaza Strip to report independently. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said foreign journalists would be allowed to enter Gaza hours before the strike that killed Al Sharif and his colleagues, but only accompanied the IDF’s approval, the same embedded policy has been in place since the start of the war.
Palestinian reporters from major news outlets like Al Jazeera have become the eyes and ears of people suffering within Gaza during the conflict, living in the same difficult conditions as other populations.
Hamas on Sunday denounced Israeli forces of “targeting and murdering” Palestinian journalists and called on journalists and international media to be given “freedom of admission.”
The United Nations was previously called the Israeli allegation.
“I am deeply wary of repeated threats and accusations by Israeli forces against Anas Al-Sharif, the last surviving journalist in Al Jazeera in northern Gaza,” said two weeks ago UN Special Rapporteur Eileen Khan.
Al-Sharif, who was married and had two children, had prepared a final message at the time of his death, shared by his colleagues at the time of his death.
“My beloved daughter, Shams, the light of my eyes, urging me to take care of my eyes, which I did not allow to grow as I had dreamed,” Al-Sharif wrote. “And I would encourage you to take care of my dear son, Sarah, who wanted to be support and companion on his journey until he was fully empowered enough to share the burden and continue his message,” he added.
“I urge you to be silent in the chains, to be hampered by borders, or to be a bridge towards the liberation of the land and its people.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
