Journalists in Gaza are writing their own obituaries, after Israel brands them 'terrorists'

RNZ News

2 days ago

By
Chantelle Al-Khouri
and
Lauren Day
, ABC
This screen grab taken from AFPTV on August 11, 2025 shows Al-Jazeera's Anas al-Sharif speaking during an AFP interview in Gaza City on August 1, 2024. Al Jazeera said two of its correspondents, including a prominent reporter, and three cameramen were killed in an Israeli strike on their tent in Gaza City on August 10.
Photo:
AFP
Palestinian journalist Anas al-Sharif knew his days were numbered.
The 28-year-old had become one of the most prominent reporters in Gaza and had amassed a large social media following, posting regular updates from the ground.
But as his work attracted a growing international audience, he also drew attention from the Israeli military.
That included escalating rhetoric from IDF spokesman Avichay Adraee, who in July described him as "a mouthpiece for intellectual terrorism" and accused him of being part of "a false Hamas campaign of starvation".
The IDF had claimed since October last year that al-Sharif was part of a group of Al Jazeera journalists working for Hamas and Islamic Jihad, citing documents it claimed showed he'd been a soldier in the Northern Brigade since 2013.
In May last year, the Israeli government shut down the Qatari news network's operations in the country, branding it a mouthpiece for Hamas.
Al Jazeera has repeatedly denied both accusations.
Just over two weeks ago, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called for al-Sharif's protection, and said he was being targeted by an Israeli military smear campaign he believed was "a precursor for his assassination".
Al-Sharif became one of a growing number of media workers being targeted by Israeli forces and smeared as "terrorists", with what press freedom groups say is no credible evidence to support the claims.
The father of two told the CPJ the campaign was not only a threat to press freedom, but also "a real-life threat".
"All of this is happening because my coverage of the crimes of the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip harms them and damages their image in the world," al-Sharif said.
"This feeling is difficult and painful, but it does not push me back. Rather, it motivates me to continue fulfilling my duty and conveying the suffering of our people, even if it costs me my life."
On Monday, al-Sharif's premonition came true.
Israel killed him, alongside his Al Jazeera colleagues Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa, with a strike on a tent housing reporters in Gaza.
The attack wiped out the entire Al Jazeera reporting team left in Gaza City.
On Tuesday, hundreds gathered for his funeral through the streets of Gaza, as the UN condemned his death.
A man holds a portrait of the late Palestinian journalist Anas Al-Sharif as he gathers for a vigil to commemorate all journalists killed in Gaza, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague, on August 11, 2025.
Photo:
AFP/PHIL NIJHUIS
Anas al-Sharif was born in the Jabalia camp in Gaza's north, the largest refugee camp and one of the most densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip.
During the 2008 war in Gaza, when Israel launched a widespread bombing campaign on the territory, an 11-year-old Anas al-Sharif was interviewed by Al Jazeera, and said he dreamt of being a reporter.
Sixteen years later - just months after Hamas launched its deadly attacks on Israel in October 2023, prompting a devastating Israeli military response in Gaza - he joined the broadcaster.
"We grew up, but the face of the occupation did not change, and its aggression did not stop," he posted in February 2024.
The CPJ said he had refused to leave Gaza's north or cease coverage in November 2023, when he was a volunteer at another media network, despite threats by Israeli military officers telling him to do so via phone calls and voice notes disclosing his location.
A month later, an Israeli air strike hit his family home in Jabalia, killing his 90-year-old father.
Al-Sharif and his colleagues have been forced to report on what they, too, are living through, including having to announce the deaths of multiple relatives live on air.
As celebrations broke out following the announcement of a ceasefire deal in December 2024, al-Sharif took off his press helmet and bulletproof vest live on air to mark the moment.
"I can finally take off this helmet, which has exhausted me all this time, and also this armour which has become a part of my body," he said.
His final report was published after he was killed - his will and a final message.
"If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice," he said.
"I urge you not to let chains silence you, nor borders restrain you. Be bridges toward the liberation of the land and its people, until the sun of dignity and freedom rises over our stolen homeland."
Anas al-Sharif is not the first Palestinian journalist to have written his own obituary.
In March, his Al Jazeera colleague Hossam Shabat was killed by an Israeli drone strike on the car he was travelling in through northern Gaza.
Like al-Sharif, the 23-year-old had written a note to be released in the event of his death, beginning with "if you are reading this, it means that I have been killed".
The note, which detailed his sleepless nights, hunger and struggles to document the war, concluded:
"I will finally be able to rest, something I have not been able to do for the past 18 months."
Both men are now on a long list of journalists Israeli forces have targeted after claiming they were affiliated with terrorist organisations, while providing little credible evidence.
In October 2024, they were among six Palestinian Al Jazeera journalists that Israel accused of involvement with Hamas or Islamic Jihad militant groups, on the basis of what it said were documents seized from Gaza.
The documents were unable to be independently verified, and Al Jazeera called the accusation "a blatant attempt to silence the few remaining journalists in the region".
Shabat described the accusations as "fabricated dossiers framing us" and a "blatant and belligerent attempt to transform us, the last witnesses in the north, into kill-able targets".
Exactly five months later, he was killed by Israeli forces, while travelling in a car emblazoned with the "TV" and "Al Jazeera" labels.
Other examples of journalists accused of terrorism and targeted by Israeli forces include Yaser Murtaja, who had been vetted by the US government to receive a USAID grant, and Ismail al-Ghoul, who would have had to have received a Hamas military ranking at just 10 years old, according to an IDF-produced document.
Jodie Ginsberg from the CPJ told the ABC it was part of a pattern seen from Israel not only during the current war, but whenever Israeli forces have killed Palestinian journalists.
"It then subsequently alleges, without providing any credible evidence, that they are terrorist operatives and we've seen that in the case of Anas al-Sharif and a number of our journalists killed in this war," she said.
"Unusually in this war, we've seen Israel allege that journalists are terrorists ahead of time - in what Anas and other journalists have said, and we have said, seems to be a precursor to their killing, justifying their murders."
Israel has not allowed international media to independently enter Gaza since October 7.
With foreign journalists locked out of the enclave, the world has been relying on Palestinian media workers to report on the war - but their numbers are dwindling.
The CPJ has said this is the deadliest conflict for journalists it has ever documented, with more than 186 journalists having been killed.
Of those, at least 178 were Palestinians killed by Israel.
Ginsberg said at least 17 were deliberately targeted as journalists for their work, and it's clear there is no protection available to those who remain.
"We are extremely concerned that we are going to simply see more and more of these deaths as the offensive in Gaza continues," she told the ABC.
Directing attacks against journalists is considered a violation of international humanitarian law and constitutes a war crime.
Nasser Abu Bakr, from the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, described Monday's killings as a "massacre".
"This is a black day for Palestinian journalists," he said.
"It is systematic killing and systematic targeting of our journalists in Gaza from the Israeli government.
"It will not prevent us to continue our duty. We are professional journalists and … we are determined to continue our work under fire, under starvation, without any equipment to show the people what's happening on the ground."
Ginsberg pointed out that journalists are also not immune from the other issues facing the entire population of Gaza.
"They are subject to starvation, continual displacement, the deterioration of equipment [and] communications blackouts, whilst trying to report on a war that is deeply impacting them personally," she said.
Last month, news agency Agence France-Presse asked Israel to allow the immediate evacuation of its freelance contributors and their families from Gaza, after they said they were struggling to work due to the threat of hunger.
They joined the Associated Press, BBC News and Reuters in a rare statement voicing concern about journalists remaining in the territory, which read:
"We are desperately concerned for our journalists in Gaza, who are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families.
"For many months, these independent journalists have been the world's eyes and ears on the ground in Gaza.
"They are now facing the same dire circumstances as those they are covering."
- ABC