UN, media groups condemn Israel's deadly strike on Al Jazeera team in Gaza
Image: Karim JAAFAR / AFP
Condemnations poured in from the United Nations and media rights groups 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.
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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 publicise events organised by the group that has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2006.
Sharif was one of the Al Jazeera's most recognisable 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 UN human rights agency called a "grave breach of international humanitarian law".
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.
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.
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