Child killed after Gaza aid package falls on his head
The boy, identified by local media as Muhannad Zakaria Eid, had been waiting near the Netzarim area in central Gaza when the box came down at high speed.
Video verified by Al Jazeera captured the moments after the impact, as people crowded around the bleeding child in a desperate attempt to save him.
Later images showed his body in the hospital morgue, with his father cradling him in grief.
Palestinian journalists say such incidents underscore the dangers and inadequacy of airdrops, which have repeatedly failed to meet the territory's overwhelming humanitarian needs and Israel's weaponisation of basic necessities in the besieged enclave.
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Middle East Eye
3 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
BBC condemned for repeating Israeli narrative on slain journalist Anas al-Sharif
BBC's reporting on the killing of several Palestinian journalists in Gaza has been on the receiving end of fierce criticism, with thousands on social media saying the broadcaster is 'parroting the Israeli narrative'. Late on Sunday local time, prominent Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh were killed in a drone strike on a press tent near al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. The strike also took the lives of Al Jazeera staff Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa, as well as freelance journalist Mohammed al-Khalidi. While many around the world mourned their losses, the BBC's coverage of the slain journalists received backlash for repeating Israel's accusation that Sharif had a "dual role" as "journalist and terrorist". Israel has routinely made such claims about journalists, which have been strongly rejected by the Committee to Protect Journalists. One social media user suggested that this was a character assassination, right after Israel killed him. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters "Lets bring in our colleague Yolande Knell who is in Jerusalem. The accusation from Israel is that Anas al Sharif had a dual role, he was both in their words journalist and terrorist..." The IDF assassinated him. Now the BBC assassinates his character. — Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) August 11, 2025 In another report, a BBC news anchor said, 'Israel says Anas Al-Sharif was a member of Hamas, a claim long rejected by the news network, his family, and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).' For many on social media, the news anchor adding the fact that Al Jazeera and the CPJ rejected these claims was not enough, with one saying, 'the BBC stooped so low it should be banned from broadcasting after parroting the Israeli narrative.' The @BBC just stooped so low it should be banned from broadcasting after parroting the Israeli narrative about murdered @AnasAlSharif0 — Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) August 10, 2025 The BBC's coverage also ignited criticism of many other western media outlets. Many on social media suggested that media outlets that remained silent while Israel continued its assaults on Gaza for 21 months were 'complicit' in the "genocidal machine". One social media user compiled headlines from western media outlets, in which the German Bild magazine wrote, 'Journalist in disguise as terrorists killed in Gaza'. Anas a beacon of light, killed by cowards to hide their crimes. You never stood when they threatened him for telling the truth#Reuters, #Bild, #Sky, #BBC & all other apologists/propagandists for a genocidal machine you're complicit We will never forget. We will never forgive — Osama Bin Javaid (@osamabinjavaid) August 11, 2025 Others praised Sharif for standing 'unbowed before Zionism, exposing Israel's war crimes with integrity and honour'. In one social media post, a person shared a screenshot from the BBC, saying: 'Anas Al-Sharif worked for a Hamas media team in Gaza before the current conflict.' The person wrote, 'The BBC has repeatedly abandoned the core principles of journalism, choosing to support the genocide rather than report the truth about its victims.' The BBC (@BBC) insists on adopting the Israeli narrative, falsely claiming that Anas Al-Sharif was affiliated with Hamas. Al-Sharif was broadcasting and reporting the genocide in #Gaza live, day in and day out—and for that, he was deliberately killed. The BBC does not shy away… — Sahat English 🇵🇸 (@sahatenglish) August 11, 2025 According to Gaza's government media office, Israel has killed 238 Palestinian journalists since the start of the war in October 2023. Over 61,000 Palestinians have been killed in the enclave, and starvation is looming, with more than 200 dead from hunger. Rights groups and press freedom advocates have described the war in Gaza as the deadliest conflict for journalists in modern history while human rights groups, scholars and some countries quantify it as a genocide.
Middle East Eye
6 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Gaza journalists report through their grief once again at slain friends' funeral
With press vests laid atop their bodies, six more Palestinian journalists targeted and killed by Israeli forces were laid to rest on Monday. It was a scene that had played out devastatingly frequently over the past 22 months: reporters with the word "press" proudly displayed on their jackets gathering to grieve and pray for slain colleagues. Anas al-Sharif, Middle East Eye contributor Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, Moamen Aliwa and Mohammed al-Khalidi were the latest names among 238 journalists killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since the war began in October 2023. Their media tent, set up outside al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, was deliberately targeted late on Sunday night. Medhat al-Sawalha, whose own tent is metres away, saw the aftermath of the attack. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters 'I went out to buy something from a stall,' he told Middle East Eye, adding that he returned to see Sharif and his colleagues' tent on fire. 'I didn't hear the sound of the explosion, but at home they told me they heard it.' He rushed over, only to find Sharif and several others dead and dismembered. 'Anas, may God have mercy on him, I carried him in my hands,' said Sawalha. 'I carried him in my hands.' He said he saw another body next to Sharif's, which he couldn't identify. The body was missing a head. 'We were closer than family' Hours after the attack, Palestinian journalists returned to the encampment. The structure of the tent had been completely blown off, with mattresses and destroyed belongings strewn across the floor. The reporters mourned and documented - a familiar blurring of the personal and professional that Palestinian journalists have endured since the war on Gaza began. It's a feeling that Mohammed Abu Namous, a broadcast journalist in Gaza, is used to. 'Imagine, yesterday when I arrived at the targeted site in the middle of the night, I went live on air,' he told MEE. 'With one hand I was speaking to the channel live on air. With the other hand, I was trying to reassure my family through text messages on WhatsApp that I'm fine.' 'Imagine, yesterday when I arrived at the targeted site in the middle of the night, I went live on air' - Mohammed Abu Namous, broadcast journalist Addressing journalists around the world, Abu Namous said the least they could do was protect their Palestinian colleagues from Israeli attacks. 'What is the difference between a foreign journalist and a journalist in the Gaza Strip?' he asked. 'In the eyes of the Israeli occupation, all Palestinians are the ones who must be killed at any moment.' Ramadan Abu Sakran was a colleague and close friend of Sharif, Qreiqeh and Zaher. 'We were closer than family because we slept in the same place, in the same surroundings, and shared our food and drink,' he told MEE. 'We lived through the same fear, the same atmosphere of being targeted. We used to cover the same targeted sites together, and we would console each other about the scenes we saw daily in the places we covered together.' He said Sharif was full of laughter and jokes, often trying to lift the spirits of his friends and fellow reporters. He even joked, after Israel's army issued a threat last year stating that it would target him and fellow Al Jazeera journalist Hossam Shabat, that his friends should stay away from him. 'We'd say, 'If we're going to die, we'll die together.' That's how we used to comfort each other,' said Abu Sakran. Unsubstantiated Israeli claims Shabat was killed in March, in an attack which deliberately targeted his vehicle in northern Gaza. The Israeli military claimed, without providing any credible evidence, that it killed Sharif because he "served as the head of a terrorist cell in the Hamas terrorist organisation". Israel has routinely made such claims about journalists, which have been strongly rejected by the Committee to Protect Journalists. It made the same claims about Shabat in March. Al Jazeera, for whom Sharif was one of the most prominent on-screen reporters based in Gaza, described him as 'one of Gaza's bravest journalists". It said the attack was "a desperate attempt to silence voices in anticipation of the occupation of Gaza". A photojournalist surveys the wreckage a day after Israeli forces targeted a media tent, killing six journalists near al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City (Mohammed al-Hajjar/MEE) 'These journalists were the ones who conveyed the clear truth without embellishment or distortion to the entire world,' Tamer Daloul, a correspondent for Al-Ghad TV in Gaza City, told MEE. 'It should be noted that Anas and Mohammed Qreiqeh remained steadfast in northern Gaza during the displacement and division between the north and the south,' he added. 'They insisted on staying inside the Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital, in a tent, and later moved to al-Shifa medical complex, in the well-known tent [where they were killed].' Daloul said the Israeli targeting of these journalists, among the over 200 others, leaves him fearful - not just for himself, but for his family too. 'It left us honestly not knowing, should we continue covering, should we stop, should we keep going live, are we protected?' he said. 'We no longer sleep at our families' homes for fear of being targeted. 'And yet, despite all this, we try to keep going and continue doing everything we can.'
Middle East Eye
6 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Mohammed Qreiqeh: The brave MEE contributor who never lost hope
Mohammed Qreiqeh was well-known for his eloquent way of speaking, a skill he displayed to the world in a live TV report just moments before Israel killed him. The 33-year-old Al Jazeera correspondent was one of six Palestinian journalists killed in a direct and deliberate Israeli strike on their media tent beside Gaza City's al-Shifa hospital on Sunday. His last moments on air were spent reporting on the dire humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, where months of Israeli siege have left two million Palestinians starving. Born in 1992 in Gaza City's Shujaiya, Qreiqeh was a graduate of the Islamic University of Gaza. Qreiqeh contributed to several publications, including Middle East Eye, before he began working at Al Jazeera. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters MEE journalist Maha Hussaini recalled working alongside him for several months after Israel's war on Gaza began in October 2023, and being impressed by his bravery and commitment. "I was forcibly displaced in southern Gaza, while he remained in the north, refusing to evacuate or abandon his responsibilities there," she explained. "Mohammed would go into the field to gather testimonies and eyewitness accounts in places I couldn't reach due to the Israeli separation of the north from the south, and he even felt responsible for informing me about crimes that the media had not yet learned about. He felt it was his duty to expose what was happening." Israel has killed 238 Palestinian journalists in Gaza since the beginning of the war, according to the Gaza government media office, and Qreiqeh knew many of his slain colleagues. In one clip recently aired, Qreiqeh was seen making a tribute to Ismail al-Ghoul, a journalist killed a year earlier. Qreiqeh read a heartfelt poem, wearing his late friend's press helmet. Qreiqeh died near al-Shifa hospital - the same place his mother was killed a year ago. He discovered his mother's remains in early April last year, following Israel's two-week assault on the hospital. The Palestinian journalist Mohammed Qraqe'a whose mother was killed by the Israeli occupation forces whist attacking the Shefa hospital in Gaza. Mohammed found his mother following the withdrawal of occupation forces after two weeks of attacking the hospital. — Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) April 3, 2024 In one clip, he revisits his mother's resting place, where she was killed by Israeli forces, and speaks to eyewitnesses of the brutal invasion. Four months later, Qreiqeh would lose his brother, who succumbed to wounds in an Israeli assault. Much like other journalists working under the stress of Israeli attacks, Qreiqeh had been separated from his family for months, with one widely shared video showing him weeping as he listens to his daughter's voice. War on Gaza: Survivors recount harrowing Israeli field executions Read More » Shortly before his killing, Qreiqeh spent some of his final moments inside a car answering questions about the Gaza war during a livestream. Commenting on the recent Israeli announcement that it would totally take over Gaza, he expressed some rare hope: "God willing - and I am optimistic - that the coming days will bring news of at least ending this massacre and exhausting misery." "God willing, the coming days will be filled with peace, calm and happiness, and the war ends. We have all lost something... I'm not talking about the loss of our homes. The one who built a stone is able to rebuild it, there's no problem. God will always give back," he added. "However, we have all suffered from losses in Gaza... Each of us has a story, and each story is more difficult than the other. In the end, it is God's plan and we should surrender to God's will." His final words to followers watching his livestream were words of appreciation and apologies for not responding to all of his comments.
