Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif, 28, has been killed along with four of his colleagues in a deliberate Israeli attack on a media tent sheltering journalists outside the main gate of Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital.
Al Jazeera reporter Hani al-Shaer said an Israeli drone hit the tent about 11:35pm (20:35 GMT) on Sunday.
In total, seven people were killed in the attack, including Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, 33, and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, 25; Mohammed Noufal, 29; and Moamen Aliwa, 23.
[Al Jazeera]
Israel deliberately kills Al Jazeera journalists
This is not the first time Israel has targeted Al Jazeera journalists covering the war in Gaza. Before Sunday night’s attack, at least five Al Jazeera journalists had been killed by Israel.
[Al Jazeera]
On December 14, 2023, Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abudaqa was targeted by an Israeli air strike while reporting alongside Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh, who was injured in the same attack.
Abudaqa was left to bleed to death at the Farhana school in Khan Younis, where they were filming, as emergency workers were blocked by the Israeli military from reaching the site.
On January 7, 2024, Wael’s eldest son and fellow Al Jazeera journalist, Hamza Dahdouh, was killed in a missile strike on the vehicle he was travelling in in Khan Younis.
On July 31, 2024, Ismail al-Ghoul and his cameraman Rami al-Rifi were killed in an Israeli attack on the Shati refugee camp despite their vehicle bearing clear media markings and both wearing vests identifying themselves as members of the news media.
People inspect a vehicle in which Al Jazeera reporter Ismail al-Ghoul and cameraman Rami al-Rifi were killed by an Israeli strike on July 31, 2024 [Ayman Al Hassi/Reuters]
On December 15, Israel killed Al Jazeera journalist Ahmed al-Louh in an air strike in central Gaza’s Nuseirat camp.
Mourners attend the funeral of Ahmed al-Louh, a video journalist for Al Jazeera, and members of the Palestinian Civil Defence who were killed in an Israeli strike on a civil emergency centre in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip [Ramadan Abed/Reuters]
On March 24, Hossam Shabat, 23, was killed in an Israeli attack in the eastern part of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.
[Al Jazeera]
Gaza: The deadliest war for journalists
Israel’s war on Gaza has been the single deadliest conflict for journalists.
According to Brown University’s Costs of War project, more journalists have been killed in Gaza since the war began on October 7, 2023, than in the US Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, Vietnam War, the wars in the former Yugoslavia and the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan – combined.
[Al Jazeera]
According to Reporters Without Borders, known by its French acronym RSF, 2024 was the deadliest year for journalists with more than 120 killed. Since the start of this year, more than 50 journalists and media workers have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza.
Targeting journalists is a war crime
Al Jazeera has condemned the targeted killing of its correspondents as “yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom”, noting that al-Sharif and his colleagues were among the last voices reporting from inside Gaza as international media remained barred by Israel.
The Palestinian mission to the United Nations accused Israel of “deliberately assassinating” al-Sharif and Qreiqeh, saying they “systematically exposed and documented Israel’s genocide and starvation”.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s spokesperson called for an investigation and stressed that journalists everywhere must be allowed to work without fear of being targeted.
Amnesty International condemned the killings as a war crime and honoured al-Sharif as a “brave and extraordinary” reporter, noting he received the Human Rights Defender Award in 2024 for his commitment to press freedom.
Every month, 13 journalists are killed in Gaza
Nearly 270 journalists and media workers have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza in 22 months of war – or about 13 journalists every month – according to a tally by Shireen.ps, a monitoring website named after Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot and killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank in 2022.
What makes this statistic even more stark is that Gaza is losing voices on the ground at a time when Israel has banned international media from entering the besieged enclave.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said the killings of journalists and their detentions since October 7, 2023, have created a news void that will cause potential war crimes to go undocumented.
In June, the RSF, CPJ and news organisations published an open letter stating that many Palestinian journalists who have been relied on by reporters outside Gaza have faced a plethora of threats and many “face constant threats to their lives for doing their jobs: bearing witness”.
The targeting of reporters has continued ever since despite international condemnation of Israel’s actions.
In a statement, Amnesty International said: “Israel isn’t just assassinating journalists but attacking journalism itself by preventing the documentation of genocide.”
The names of the journalists and media workers killed in Israel’s war on Gaza are listed below:
[Al Jazeera]
