Israel kills ‘one of Gaza's bravest journalists', claims he was Hamas cell leader
But a UN expert previously warned that Anas Al Sharif's life was in danger due to his reporting from Gaza.
In July, the Committee to Protect Journalists urged the international community to protect Al Sharif.
Israel's military said it targeted and killed a Hamas cell leader posing as an Al Jazeera journalist in an airstrike on Gaza City on Sunday, a claim condemned by the Qatari broadcaster.
Anas Al Sharif was among a group of four Al Jazeera journalists and an assistant who died in a strike on a tent near Shifa Hospital in eastern Gaza City, Gaza officials and Al Jazeera said.
An official at the hospital said two other people were also killed in the strike.
Al Sharif was the head of a Hamas cell and 'was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF (Israeli) troops', the Israeli military said in a statement, citing intelligence and documents found in Gaza as evidence.
Palestinian journalists' groups and Al Jazeera denounced the killings.
The other journalists killed were Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal, Al Jazeera said.
Ilia Yefimovich/picture alliance via Getty Images
A press freedom group and a UN expert previously warned that Al Sharif's life was in danger due to his reporting from Gaza.
UN Special Rapporteur Irene Khan said in July that Israel's claims against him were unsubstantiated.
In July, the Committee to Protect Journalists urged the international community to protect Al Sharif.
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.
Abdalhkem Abu Riash/Anadolu via Getty Images
Calling Al Sharif 'one of Gaza's bravest journalists', Al Jazeera said the attack 'is a desperate attempt to silence voices in anticipation of the occupation of Gaza'.
Palestinian militant group Hamas, which runs Gaza, said the killing may signal the start of an Israeli offensive.
'The assassination of journalists and the intimidation of those who remain paves the way for a major crime that the occupation is planning to commit in Gaza City,' Hamas said in a statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he would launch a new offensive to dismantle Hamas strongholds in Gaza, where a hunger crisis is escalating after 22 months of war.
Anas Al Sharif and his colleagues were among the last remaining voices in Gaza conveying the tragic reality to the world.
Al Jazeera
The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said 237 journalists have been killed since the war started on 7 October 2023.
AFP reported that Australia will recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday.
'Until Israeli and Palestinian statehood is permanent, peace can only be temporary,' he told reporters.
'Australia will recognise the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own.'
Several countries, including France, Britian and Canada, have announced plans to recognise statehood for Palestinians since Israel launched a bombardment of Gaza nearly two years ago in response to the Hamas attacks.
Albanese added that he had received assurances from the Palestinian Authority that there would be 'no role for the terrorists of Hamas in any future Palestinian state'.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
17 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Israeli gunfire kills at least 25 in Gaza as Netanyahu says he will allow Palestinians to leave
Advertisement Witnesses and staff at Nasser and Awda hospitals, which received the bodies, said people were shot dead on their way to aid distribution sites and while awaiting convoys entering Gaza. Israel did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ceasefire talks set to resume Efforts to revive ceasefire talks have resumed after apparently breaking down last month. Hamas and Egyptian officials met Wednesday in Cairo, according to Hamas official Taher al-Nounou. Israel has no plans to send its negotiating team to talks in Cairo, the prime minister's office said. Israel's plans to widen its military offensive against Hamas to the areas of Gaza that it does not yet control have sparked condemnation and criticism at home and abroad, and could be intended to raise pressure on Hamas to reach a ceasefire. Advertisement The militants still hold 50 hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war. Israel believes around 20 of them are alive. Families fear a new offensive endangers them. Netanyahu was asked by i24 News if the window had closed on a partial ceasefire deal and he responded that he wanted all of the hostages back, alive and dead. Egyptian Foreign Ministry Badr Abdelatty told reporters that Cairo is still trying to advance an earlier proposal for an initial 60-day ceasefire, the release of some hostages and an influx of humanitarian aid before further talks on a lasting truce. Hamas says it will only release the remaining hostages in return for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The militant group has refused to lay down its arms. South Sudan calls reports of resettlement talks baseless Israel and South Sudan are in talks about relocating Palestinians to the war-torn East African nation, The Associated Press reported Tuesday. The office of Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister, Sharren Haskel, said Wednesday she was arriving in South Sudan for a series of meetings in the first visit by a senior government official to the country, but she did not plan to broach the subject of moving Palestinians. South Sudan's ministry of foreign affairs in a statement called reports that it was engaging in discussions with Israel about resettling Palestinians baseless. The AP previously reported that US and Israel have reached out to officials of three East African governments to discuss using their territories as potential destinations for moving Palestinians uprooted from Gaza. Killed while seeking aid Among those killed while seeking aid were 14 Palestinians in the Teina area approximately 1.8 miles from a food distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to staff at Nasser hospital. Advertisement Hashim Shamalah said Israeli troops fired toward them as people tried to get through. Many were shot and fell while fleeing, he said. Israeli gunfire killed five other Palestinians while trying to reach another GHF distribution site in the Netzarim corridor area, according to Awda hospital and witnesses. GHF said there were no incidents at or near its sites Wednesday. The US and Israel support GHF, an American contractor, as an alternative to the United Nations, which they claim allows Hamas to siphon off aid. The U.N., which has delivered aid throughout Gaza for decades when conditions allow, denies the allegations. Aid convoys from other groups travel within 328 feet of GHF sites and draw crowds attempting to loot them. An overwhelming majority of violent incidents over the past few weeks have been related to those convoys, the GHF said. Israeli fire killed at least six other people waiting for aid trucks close to the Morag corridor, which separates parts of southern Gaza, Nasser hospital said. UN says starvation at highest levels of the war U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Tuesday shared the warning from the World Food Program and said Gaza's Health Ministry told U.N. staff that five people died over the previous 24 hours from malnutrition and starvation. The Health Ministry says 106 children have died of malnutrition-related causes during the war and 129 adults have died since late June. The U.N. and humanitarian partners still face significant delays and impediments from Israeli authorities who prevent the delivery of food and other essentials at the scale needed, Dujarric said. Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the 2023 attack. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals. Advertisement Israel's air and ground offensive has since displaced most of Gaza's population, destroyed vast areas and pushed the territory toward famine. The offensive has killed more than 61,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.
The Hill
17 minutes ago
- The Hill
Israeli gunfire kills at least 25 in Gaza as Netanyahu says he will allow Palestinians to leave
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli gunfire killed at least 25 people seeking aid in Gaza on Wednesday, health officials and witnesses said, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will 'allow' Palestinians to leave during an upcoming military offensive in some of the territory's most populated areas. Netanyahu wants to realize U.S. President Donald Trump's vision of relocating much of Gaza's population of over 2 million people through what he refers to as 'voluntary migration' — and what critics have warned could be ethnic cleansing. 'Give them the opportunity to leave! First, from combat zones, and also from the Strip if they want,' Netanyahu said in an interview aired Tuesday with i24, an Israeli TV station, to discuss the planned offensive in areas including Gaza City where hundreds of thousands of displaced people shelter. 'We are not pushing them out but allowing them to leave.' Witnesses and staff at Nasser and Awda hospitals, which received the bodies, said people were shot dead on their way to aid distribution sites and while awaiting convoys entering Gaza. Israel did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ceasefire talks set to resume Efforts to revive ceasefire talks have resumed after apparently breaking down last month. Hamas and Egyptian officials met Wednesday in Cairo, according to Hamas official Taher al-Nounou. Israel has no plans to send its negotiating team to talks in Cairo, the prime minister's office said. Israel's plans to widen its military offensive against Hamas to the areas of Gaza that it does not yet control have sparked condemnation and criticism at home and abroad, and could be intended to raise pressure on Hamas to reach a ceasefire. The militants still hold 50 hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war. Israel believes around 20 of them are alive. Families fear a new offensive endangers them. Netanyahu was asked by i24 News if the window had closed on a partial ceasefire deal and he responded that he wanted all of the hostages back, alive and dead. Egyptian Foreign Ministry Badr Abdelatty told reporters that Cairo is still trying to advance an earlier proposal for an initial 60-day ceasefire, the release of some hostages and an influx of humanitarian aid before further talks on a lasting truce. Hamas says it will only release the remaining hostages in return for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The militant group has refused to lay down its arms. South Sudan calls reports of resettlement talks baseless Israel and South Sudan are in talks about relocating Palestinians to the war-torn East African nation, The Associated Press reported Tuesday. The office of Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister, Sharren Haskel, said Wednesday she was arriving in South Sudan for a series of meetings in the first visit by a senior government official to the country, but she did not plan to broach the subject of moving Palestinians. South Sudan's ministry of foreign affairs in a statement called reports that it was engaging in discussions with Israel about resettling Palestinians baseless. The AP previously reported that U.S. and Israel have reached out to officials of three East African governments to discuss using their territories as potential destinations for moving Palestinians uprooted from Gaza. Killed while seeking aid Among those killed while seeking aid were 14 Palestinians in the Teina area approximately 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from a food distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to staff at Nasser hospital. Hashim Shamalah said Israeli troops fired toward them as people tried to get through. Many were shot and fell while fleeing, he said. Israeli gunfire killed five other Palestinians while trying to reach another GHF distribution site in the Netzarim corridor area, according to Awda hospital and witnesses. GHF said there were no incidents at or near its sites Wednesday. The U.S. and Israel support GHF, an American contractor, as an alternative to the United Nations, which they claim allows Hamas to siphon off aid. The U.N., which has delivered aid throughout Gaza for decades when conditions allow, denies the allegations. Aid convoys from other groups travel within 100 meters (328 feet) of GHF sites and draw crowds attempting to loot them. An overwhelming majority of violent incidents over the past few weeks have been related to those convoys, the GHF said. Israeli fire killed at least six other people waiting for aid trucks close to the Morag corridor, which separates parts of southern Gaza, Nasser hospital said. UN says starvation at highest levels of the war U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Tuesday shared the warning from the World Food Program and said Gaza's Health Ministry told U.N. staff that five people died over the previous 24 hours from malnutrition and starvation. The Health Ministry says 106 children have died of malnutrition-related causes during the war and 129 adults have died since late June. The U.N. and humanitarian partners still face significant delays and impediments from Israeli authorities who prevent the delivery of food and other essentials at the scale needed, Dujarric said. Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the 2023 attack. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals. Israel's air and ground offensive has since displaced most of Gaza's population, destroyed vast areas and pushed the territory toward famine. The offensive has killed more than 61,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.
Bloomberg
23 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
South Sudan Denies Talks With Israel on Relocating Palestinians
South Sudan's government denied reports that it's in talks with Israel about relocating Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in the East African nation. The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that the two nations are discussing the resettlement as part of a wider effort by Israel to facilitate mass emigration from Gaza, where the Israeli army has been at war with Hamas since October 2023.
