Five Al Jazeera journalists have been killed in an Israeli strike near Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, the broadcaster has said.
Correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, plus cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa were in a tent for journalists at the hospital’s main gate when it was targeted, Al Jazeera reported.
The “targeted assassination” was “yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom”, it said in a statement.
Shortly after the strike, the IDF confirmed that it had struck Anas al-Sharif, posting on Telegram that he had “served as the head of a terrorist cell in Hamas”.
The IDF did not mention any of the other journalists who were killed.
In total, seven people died in the strike, Al Jazeera reports. The broadcaster initially said that four of its staff had been killed, but revised it to five a few hours later.
Its managing editor, Mohamed Moawad, told the BBC that al-Sharif was an accredited journalist who was “the only voice” for the world to know what was happening in the Gaza Strip.
Throughout the war, Israel has not allowed international journalists into Gaza to report freely. Therefore, many outlets rely on local reporters within Gaza for coverage.
“They were targeted in their tent, they weren’t covering from the front line,” Mr Moawad said of the Israeli strike.
“The fact is that the Israeli government is wanting to silence the coverage of any channel of reporting from inside Gaza,” he told The Newsroom programme.
“This is something that I haven’t seen before in modern history.”
Al-Sharif, 28, appeared to be posting on X in the moments before his death, warning of intense Israeli bombardment within Gaza City.
A post that was published after he was reported to have died appears to have been pre-written and published by a friend.
In two graphic videos of the aftermath of the strike, which have been confirmed by BBC Verify, men can be seen carrying the bodies of those who were killed.
Some shout out Mohammed Qreiqeh’s name, and a man wearing a media vest says that one of the bodies is that of Anas al-Sharif.
The IDF statement accused al-Sharif of posing as a journalist, and being “responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops”
It said it had previously “disclosed intelligence” confirming his military affiliation, which included “lists of terrorist training courses”.
“Prior to the strike, steps were taken to mitigate harm to civilians, including the use of precise munition, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence,” the statement added.
Last month, the Al Jazeera Media Network – along with the United Nations and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) – issued separate statements calling for the protection of al-Sharif.
The broadcaster denounced “relentless efforts” by the IDF for an “ongoing campaign of incitement targeting Al Jazeera’s correspondents and journalists in the Gaza Strip”.
“The Network considers this incitement a dangerous attempt to justify the targeting of its journalists in the field,” it added.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 186 journalists have been confirmed killed since the start of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza in October 2023.
By BBC News
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