An Israeli airstrike in Gaza City late Sunday night claimed the lives of seven people, including four journalists from the news network Al Jazeera.
The Israeli military said it targeted Anas Al-Sharif, a prominent Al Jazeera correspondent who had covered the war extensively from inside Gaza. The military accused Al-Sharif of leading a Hamas cell, a claim he had previously denied. Along with Al-Sharif, fellow Al Jazeera journalist Mohammed Qreiqeh and photojournalists Ibrahim Al Thaher and Mohamed Nofal were also killed in the strike, according to the network.
In a statement, Al Jazeera condemned the attack, calling it a “desperate attempt to silence voices ahead of the occupation of Gaza.” The network mourned the loss of Al-Sharif, describing him as “one of Gaza’s bravest journalists.”
In his final moments before the attack, Al-Sharif posted 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.”
The strike took place near the entrance to Al-Shifa Hospital, where Al-Sharif and other journalists had gathered under a tent marked with a ‘Press’ sign. Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiya, the hospital’s director, confirmed that at least seven people were killed in the attack.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that Al-Sharif had led a Hamas cell responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and military personnel. The IDF referenced previously released documents, which it said provided “unequivocal proof” of Al-Sharif’s ties to Hamas.
However, Al-Sharif had firmly rejected these allegations in a previous social media post, stating: “I, Anas Al-Sharif, am a journalist with no political affiliations. My only mission is to report the truth from the ground — as it is, without bias. Speaking the truth has become, in the eyes of the occupation, a threat.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) expressed grave concern for Al-Sharif’s safety, noting that he had feared for his life after being targeted by an Israeli military smear campaign, which he believed signaled the potential for his assassination. Since the start of the war nearly two years ago, 186 journalists have been killed, with 178 of those fatalities being Palestinian journalists, according to CPJ.
The ongoing conflict has left foreign journalists unable to enter Gaza independently. Just hours before the deadly strike on Al-Sharif and his colleagues, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that foreign journalists would be allowed into Gaza, but only with IDF approval.
Palestinian journalists, like those at Al Jazeera, have become the primary sources of information for those inside Gaza, enduring the same harsh conditions as the local population. On Sunday, Hamas accused the Israeli military of deliberately targeting Palestinian journalists and called for international media to be granted “freedom to enter” Gaza.
