Five journalists from Al Jazeera were killed in a targeted airstrike by Israel on Gaza on Sunday, August 10th, including renowned journalist Anas al-Sharif. The Israeli military had publicly accused him of being a member of Hamas last month.
The casualties, in addition to Sharif, included another reporting journalist Mohammed Qreiqeh, as well as photojournalists Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa. The attack occurred when these individuals were inside a journalist tent near the main entrance of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), based in New York, condemned Israel on Monday, labeling the attack as a “murder”.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed launching an attack against Sharif, accusing him of being “the head of a Hamas terror cell”.
The IDF also alleged that Sharif had “orchestrated rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF forces” and claimed to have obtained Hamas documents showing Sharif’s affiliation with a military unit in Hamas in 2019.
However, the CPJ noted that Israel failed to provide evidence to support these accusations.
Al Jazeera reported that a total of seven people died in the airstrike. The TV channel initially stated that four employees were killed, but later revised the number to five.
Medical personnel at Al-Shifa Hospital informed Reuters on Monday that local freelance journalist Mohammad Al-Khaldi also died in the attack, bringing the total number of journalists killed in the airstrike to six.
IDF Arabic Spokesperson Avichai Adraee posted a video on social media last month accusing Sharif of being a member of the Hamas military wing.
In a recent statement, the IDF accused Sharif of posing as a journalist and claimed to have previously “disclosed intelligence” confirming his military background, including a “terrorist training course list”.
However, Sara Qudah, the regional director of the CPJ, criticized Israel in a statement on Monday, accusing them of wiping out an entire news team without claiming any other journalists were terrorists.
(Reference from BBC report)