Five Al Jazeera journalists were killed in a targeted Israeli strike on a media tent outside Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital on Sunday night, bringing the total number of journalists killed in the war to at least 192 – making it the deadliest conflict for media workers ever recorded.
Among those killed was Anas al-Sharif, 28, one of the most prominent voices reporting from Gaza since October 2023, whose coverage had drawn millions of followers across the Arab world. The strike also killed Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, 33, cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, 25, and Moamen Aliwa, and crew driver Mohammed Noufal, 29. Freelance journalist Mohammed al-Khaldi was also killed in the attack.
The Israeli military claimed al-Sharif was “the head of a Hamas terrorist cell” but has produced little evidence to support the allegation, which al-Sharif had previously denied and which Al Jazeera and media rights groups have rejected as baseless. The IDF made no statements about the other journalists it killed.
‘The Only Voice Left in Gaza City’
Minutes before his death, al-Sharif had posted on X about an “intense, concentrated” Israeli bombardment of Gaza City that had been ongoing for two hours. In his final video, the loud booms of missile strikes can be heard in the background as the dark sky is lit with orange flashes.
Born in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, al-Sharif had worked for Al Jazeera for about two years and became one of the broadcaster’s most recognisable faces during the war. He was known for reporting from the most dangerous areas where massacres had occurred, often separated from his wife and two young children for months at a time.
He worked for the whole length of the war inside Gaza reporting daily on the situation of people and the attacks which are committed in Gaza,” Salah Negm, director of news at Al Jazeera English, told the BBC. Mohamed Moawad, Al Jazeera’s managing editor, described him as the “only voice left in Gaza City”.
Evidence ‘Unequivocally’ Disputed
The Israeli military said it had documents which “unequivocally prove” al-Sharif’s “military affiliation” with Hamas, including what it claimed were personnel rosters, training course lists, phone directories, and salary documents. It released screenshots of spreadsheets apparently listing Hamas operatives, but the evidence has been widely disputed.
Committee for the Protection of Journalists CEO Jodie Ginsberg told the BBC there was no justification for al-Sharif’s killing. “International law is very clear on this point that the only individuals who are legitimate targets during a war are active combatants. Having worked as a media advisor for Hamas, or indeed for Hamas currently, does not make you an active combatant,” she said.
Muhammad Shehada from 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.
Pattern of Targeting Journalists
The killing represents what media freedom groups describe as a deliberate pattern of targeting journalists. Israel had previously accused al-Sharif of being a member of Hamas’s military wing in July, with Israeli Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posting a video accusing him without providing evidence.
“We warned back then that this felt to us like a precursor to justify assassination,” CPJ’s Ginsberg said. “This is part of a pattern… going back decades, in which it kills journalists.”
Raed Fakih, input manager at Al Jazeera’s Arabic channel, accused the Israeli military of fabricating stories about journalists before killing them. Here is a crucial fact: had Israel been held accountable for Shireen’s assassination, it would not have dared to kill 200 journalists in Gaza,” he said, referring to Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot dead by Israeli forces in the West Bank in 2022.
Personal Tragedies Amid Professional Duty
The journalists killed had all suffered personal losses during the war. Al-Sharif’s father was killed in December 2023 when the family home was targeted in an Israeli strike. Qreiqeh’s mother was killed in March 2024 when Israeli forces raided al-Shifa hospital, and his brother died in an air strike the same month. Noufal’s mother and brother were also killed by Israeli attacks earlier in the war.
Both al-Sharif and Qreiqeh had been separated from their families for long periods while reporting from northern Gaza. When they reunited during a brief ceasefire, video footage showed their children appearing unable to recognise them. In a July broadcast, al-Sharif cried on air as a woman collapsed from hunger behind him, saying: “I am talking about slow death of those people.”
International Condemnation
The targeted killing has drawn widespread international condemnation. UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for an independent investigation, with his spokesperson noting that “at least 242 journalists have been killed in Gaza since the war began.
The EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said there was “a need in these cases to provide clear evidence, in the respect of rule of law, to avoid targeting of journalists.” Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said the deaths showed “deliberate targeting of journalists by Israel in the Gaza Strip reveals how these crimes are beyond imagination.
Deadliest Conflict for Journalists
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 192 journalists have been killed since the start of the Israel-Gaza war on 7 October 2023, with at least 184 of those being Palestinians killed by Israel. This makes it the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.
A report by Brown University’s Watson Institute found more journalists have been killed in Gaza than in both world wars, the Vietnam War, the wars in Yugoslavia and the US war in Afghanistan combined. The war has killed an average of 13 journalists per month.
Reporters Without Borders condemned what it called the “acknowledged murder by the Israeli army” and said the allegations against al-Sharif were “baseless. The organisation called on the international community to intervene, warning: “Without strong action from the international community to stop the Israeli army… we’re likely to witness more such extrajudicial murders of media professionals.
Final Message
In a post published on his X account after his death, which was prewritten in case he was killed, al-Sharif wrote: “I gave every effort and all my strength to be a support and a voice for my people… Do not forget Gaza.”
Al Jazeera called the assassination “a desperate attempt to silence the voices exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza” and demanded the international community “take decisive measures to halt this ongoing genocide and end the deliberate targeting of journalists.
The killings come as Israel has banned international media from entering Gaza and blocked Al Jazeera in Israel, with soldiers raiding its West Bank offices last year. Nearly 270 journalists and media workers have now been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza in 22 months of war, creating what the CPJ describes as a news void that will cause potential war crimes to go undocumented.
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