Israel targets journalists' tent in Gaza, killing seven including Anas al-Sharif
The Israeli army admitted to killing journalist Anas al-Sharif in an airstrike on Gaza City on Monday, accusing him of leading a Hamas cell.
Palestinian media confirmed the bombing of the press tent and the death toll. The government media office in Gaza said that the incident brings the total number of journalists killed due to Israeli bombing since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip to 237.
According to Reporters Without Borders, nearly 200 journalists have been killed during the 20-month war, at least 45 of them while carrying out their duties. The organization accuses Israel of imposing a 'media blockade' on Gaza by preventing foreign journalists from entering and imposing strict censorship on information.
Since the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel has not allowed any media crews to enter the Gaza Strip. It has allowed a limited number of media outlets, whose correspondents were carefully selected, to enter the Strip on tours supervised by the Israeli military, with coverage subject to strict military censorship.
International media outlets rely on local journalists from Gaza to cover Israel's 22-month-old war.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, Israeli attacks and military operations have killed at least 61,430 people, the majority of them civilians, according to the health ministry in the Strip. The United Nations considers these figures reliable.
The war in the Gaza Strip erupted following an unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.
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