RSF blasts Al Jazeera journalist's 'acknowledged murder by Israeli army'
The press freedom campaign group told AFP it "strongly and angrily condemns the acknowledged murder by the Israeli army" of al-Sharif and other journalists after the state labelled him a "terrorist" affiliated with Hamas and called on the international community to intervene.
AFP
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Ya Libnan
an hour ago
- Ya Libnan
Israel assassinates a prominent Al Jazeera journalist and his 4 colleagues
By Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell A prominent Al Jazeera journalist, who had previously been threatened by Israel, was killed along with four colleagues in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday in an attack condemned by journalists and rights groups. Israel's military said it targeted and killed Anas Al Sharif, alleging he had headed a Hamas militant cell and was involved in rocket attacks on Israel. Al Jazeera, which is funded by the Qatari government, rejected the assertion, and before his death Al Sharif had also denied such claims by Israel. 'Anas Al Sharif and his colleagues were among the last remaining voices in Gaza conveying the tragic reality to the world,' Al Jazeera said. Al Sharif, 28, was among a group of four Al Jazeera journalists and an assistant who died in an airstrike on a tent near Al Shifa Hospital in eastern Gaza City, Gaza officials and Al Jazeera said. A hospital official said two other people died. A sixth journalist, local freelance reporter Mohammad Al-Khaldi, was also killed in the strike, medics at Al Shifa Hospital said on Monday. Calling Al Sharif 'one of Gaza's bravest journalists', Al Jazeera said the attack was a 'desperate attempt to silence voices in anticipation of the occupation of Gaza '. The other journalists killed were Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal, Al Jazeera said. 'The deliberate targeting of journalists by Israel in the Gaza Strip reveals how these crimes are beyond imagination,' Qatari Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, said on X. The U.N. human rights office condemned the killings, saying the actions by Israel's military represented a 'grave breach of international humanitarian law' as Palestinians reported the heaviest bombardments in weeks. Its post on social media platform X was accompanied by a photograph of flattened blue tents next to a bullet-ridden wall in Gaza City. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is 'gravely concerned' about the repeated targeting of journalists in Gaza, his spokesperson said. The Israeli military said in a statement that Al Sharif led a Hamas cell and 'was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians' and Israeli troops, citing intelligence and documents it said were discovered in Gaza as evidence but which it did not disclose. Israel denies deliberately targeting journalists, saying many of those killed in Israeli airstrikes were members of Islamist militant groups, working under the guise of the press. Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted undated photos on X that appeared to show Al Sharif with Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the Hamas October 2023 attack on Israel, and other Hamas officials. Reuters could not verify their authenticity. It was not clear when the purported images were taken nor how the military acquired them. Adraee wrote that only a 'terrorist' would be seen with Hamas officials, without providing any context as to why Al Sharif, a journalist, had allegedly met them. People gathered at Sheikh Radwan Cemetery in the heart of the Gaza Strip on Monday to mourn the journalists. Friends, colleagues and relatives consoled each another, many wiping away tears as they bid farewell. Al Sharif was previously part of a Reuters team which in 2024 won a Pulitzer Prize in the category of Breaking News Photography for coverage of the Israel-Hamas war. The war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is the deadliest on record for journalists, according to the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs' Costs of War project. The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said 238 journalists have been killed since the war started on October 7, 2023. The Committee to Protect Journalists said at least 186 journalists have been killed in the Gaza conflict. A press freedom group and a United Nations expert previously warned that Al Sharif's life was in danger due to his reporting from Gaza. U.N. Special Rapporteur Irene Khan said last month that Israel's claims against him were unsubstantiated. PRE-RECORDED MESSAGE Al Jazeera said Al Sharif had left a social media message to be posted in the event of his death that read, '…I never hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or misrepresentation, hoping that God would witness those who remained silent'. Israel's military had named Al Sharif in October as one of six Gaza journalists it alleged were members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, citing documents it said showed lists of people who completed training courses and salaries. 'Al Jazeera categorically rejects the Israeli occupation forces' portrayal of our journalists as terrorists and denounces their use of fabricated evidence,' the network said in a statement at the time. The Committee to Protect Journalists, which in July urged the international community to protect Al Sharif, said in a statement that Israel had failed to provide any evidence to back up its allegations against him. Al Sharif, whose X account showed more than 500,000 followers, posted on the platform minutes before his death that Israel had been intensely bombarding Gaza City for more than two hours. Palestinian militant group Hamas, which runs Gaza, said the killing may signal the start of an Israeli offensive. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will launch a new offensive to dismantle Hamas strongholds in Gaza, where a hunger crisis is escalating after 22 months of war. 'The assassination of journalists and the intimidation of those who remain pave the way for a major crime that the occupation is planning to commit in Gaza City,' Hamas said in a statement. (Reuters) –
LBCI
an hour ago
- LBCI
What caused the deadly explosion that killed six Lebanese army soldiers? Here's what we know so far
Report by Lara El Hachem, English adaptation by Karine Keuchkerian The Lebanese army's mission to centralize weapons under its control is fraught with danger. On Saturday, six soldiers from the Engineering Regiment and the 5th Infantry Brigade were killed while searching tunnels. The tragic incident likely took place at a Hezbollah site in the Wadi Zibqin area, uncovered by the French UNIFIL battalion and announced on August 7. The site included a tunnel housing a 130mm artillery position and an ammunition depot. The tunnel is deep in a remote valley with a single entrance and exit. It is shaped like an 'L,' with artillery positioned in one direction and ammunition stored in another, both in the same spot. This differs from conventional armies, which typically store ammunition and firing mechanisms separately to safeguard supplies. While the Lebanese army was moving one of the ammunition crates, an explosion occurred. How it happened remains under investigation. The Lebanese army launched an investigation under the supervision of Judge Fadi Akiki, the Military Court's Government Commissioner. The site was examined, and testimony was taken from one of the wounded surviving soldiers. Although the exact cause of the explosion remains unclear, the leading theory is that the ammunition crate was booby-trapped, causing it to detonate during transport. Such booby traps are often left in abandoned caches as part of warfare. Israeli forces had penetrated part of Wadi Zibqin during the ceasefire. Supporting this theory, an inspection of the unexploded ammunition showed it lacked a fuse that would cause it to explode automatically. Fuses were found in other crates. Typically, armies store weapons safely to prevent accidental explosions from shocks or malfunctions. If the explosion was caused by a booby trap, sources say metal detectors may give false signals in areas with high metal content, making it harder to detect explosives. Therefore, the mission requires the highest level of coordination among all parties involved and possibly alternative methods to dispose of ammunition safely to prevent further loss of life.
Nahar Net
2 hours ago
- Nahar Net
UN, media groups condemn Israel's deadly strike on Al-Jazeera team in Gaza
by Naharnet Newsdesk 11 August 2025, 19:02 Condemnations poured in from the United Nations and media rights groups on Monday after an Israeli strike killed an Al Jazeera news team in Gaza, as Palestinians mourned the journalists and Israel accused one of them of being a Hamas militant. Dozens of Gazans stood amid bombed-out buildings in the courtyard of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City to pay their respects to Anas al-Sharif, a prominent Al Jazeera correspondent aged 28, and four of his colleagues killed on Sunday. Hospital director Mohammed Abu Salmiya said a sixth journalist, freelance reporter Mohammed Al-Khaldi, was killed in the strike that targeted the Al Jazeera team. Mourners including men wearing blue journalists' flak jackets carried their bodies, wrapped in white shrouds with their faces exposed, through narrow alleys to their graves. Israel confirmed it had targeted Sharif, whom it labelled a "terrorist" affiliated with Hamas, alleging he "posed as a journalist". Al Jazeera said four other employees -- correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa -- were killed when the strike hit a tent set up for journalists outside the main gate of Al-Shifa. An Israeli military statement accused Sharif of heading a Hamas "terrorist cell" and being "responsible for advancing rocket attacks" against Israelis. The military released documents alleging to show the date of Sharif's enlistment with Hamas in 2013, an injury report from 2017 and the name of his military unit and rank. According to local journalists who knew him, Sharif had worked at the start of his career with a Hamas communication office, where his role was to publicize events organized by the group that has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2006. Sharif was one of the Al Jazeera's most recognizable faces working on the ground in Gaza, providing daily reports on the now 22-month-old war. Media freedom groups have condemned the Israeli strike on journalists, which the U.N. human rights agency called a "grave breach of international humanitarian law". - 'Attempt to silence' - A posthumous message, written by Sharif in April in case of his death, was published online saying he had been silenced and urging people "not to forget Gaza". In July, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called for his protection following online posts by an Israeli military spokesman. The group had accused Israel of a "pattern" of labelling journalists militants "without providing credible evidence", and said the military had levelled similar accusations against media workers in Gaza including Al Jazeera staff. "International law is clear that active combatants are the only justified targets in a war setting," Jodie Ginsberg, CPJ's chief executive, told AFP on Monday. Unless Israel "can demonstrate that Anas al-Sharif was still an active combatant, then there is no justification for his killing", she said. Al Jazeera called the attack "a desperate attempt to silence voices exposing the Israeli occupation", as it described Sharif as "one of Gaza's bravest journalists". The Qatari broadcaster also said the strike followed "repeated incitement" and calls by Israeli officials to target Sharif and his colleagues. Reporters Without Borders says nearly 200 journalists have been killed in the war, which was sparked by Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel. Israel prevents international reporters from entering Gaza, except on occasional tightly controlled trips with the military. The strike on the news team in Gaza City came days after the Israeli security cabinet had approved plans to sent troops into the area, a decision met with mounting domestic and international criticism. - 'Another calamity' - Netanyahu on Sunday said the military will conquer the remaining quarter or so of the territory not yet controlled by Israeli troops -- including much of Gaza City and Al-Mawasi, an Israeli-designated safe zone where huge numbers of Palestinians have sought refuge. The plan, which Israeli media reported had triggered bitter disagreement between the government and military leadership, drew condemnation from protesters in Israel and numerous countries, including Israeli allies. Notably, Germany, a major weapons supplier and staunch ally, announced the suspension of shipments of any arms that could be used in Gaza. Australia said it would join a growing list of Western nations in recognizing a Palestinian state. Netanyahu has remained defiant, telling journalists on Sunday that "we will win the war, with or without the support of others." The United Nations and humanitarian agencies have condemned the planned offensive, which U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenca said "will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza". U.N. agencies warned last month that famine was unfolding in the territory, with Israel severely restricting the entry of aid. Israel's offensive has killed at least 61,499 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, figures the United Nations says are reliable. Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
