SANEF condemns targeting of journalists
The killing was reported as a targeted Israeli strike on a tent used by media near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
Now the South African National Editors' Forum says not only is this unacceptable, but it's a grave threat to the public's right to information.
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eNCA
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Israel military says approved plan for new Gaza offensive
The Israeli military said on Wednesday it had approved the framework for a new offensive in the Gaza Strip, as Hamas condemned what it called "aggressive" Israeli ground incursions in Gaza City. The approval for the expanded offensive comes days after Israel's security cabinet called for the seizure of Gaza's largest city, following 22 months of war that have created dire humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian territory. Israeli armed forces chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir "approved the main framework for the IDF's operational plan in the Gaza Strip," a statement released by the army said. Prime Benjamin Minister Netanyahu's government has not provided a precise timetable for when Israeli troops will enter Gaza City, where thousands have taken refuge after fleeing previous offensives. Ismail Al-Thawabta, director general of the Hamas government media office in Gaza, told AFP on Wednesday that "the Israeli occupation forces continue to carry out aggressive incursions in Gaza City." "These assaults represent a dangerous escalation aimed at imposing a new reality on the ground by force, through a scorched-earth policy and the complete destruction of civilian property," he added. Sabah Fatoum, 51, who lives in a tent in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City told AFP by phone that "the explosions are massive" in the area. There are "many air strikes and tanks are advancing in the southern area of Tal al-Hawa with drones above our heads," she said. "The tanks are still there, and I saw dozens of civilians fleeing" to the west of the city, she added. Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli air strikes on Gaza City have intensified in recent days, with the residential neighbourhoods of Zeitoun and Sabra hit "with very heavy air strikes targeting civilian homes, possibly including high-rise buildings". Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that Israeli strikes or fire had killed at least 35 people across Gaza on Wednesday. - 'Just escaped death' - AFP footage from Gaza City on Tuesday showed Palestinians fleeing Israeli strikes on the Zeitoun and Asqoola using overladen carts, vans and bikes. "I didn't bring a mattress or anything and we just escaped death and now we're running away and we don't know where to go," said displaced Palestinian Fidaa Saad. AFP | Jack GUEZ Israel's plans to expand its offensive into Gaza City come as diplomacy aimed at securing an elusive ceasefire and hostage release deal has stalled for weeks, after the latest round of negotiations broke down in July. Egypt said Tuesday it was working with fellow Gaza mediators Qatar and the United States to broker a 60-day truce "with the release of some hostages and some Palestinian detainees, and the flow of humanitarian and medical assistance to Gaza without restrictions, without conditions". Hamas said early Wednesday that a senior delegation had arrived in Cairo for "preliminary talks" with Egyptian officials. Israel's plans to expand the Gaza war have sparked international outcry as well as domestic opposition. Reserve and retired pilots who served in the Israeli air force on Tuesday rallied in Tel Aviv to demand an end to the conflict. "This war and expansion will only cause the death of the hostages, death of more Israeli soldiers, and death of many more innocent Palestinians in Gaza," said Guy Poran, a former Israeli air force pilot. - Dire conditions - UN-backed experts have warned of widespread famine unfolding in the territory, where Israel has drastically curtailed the amount of humanitarian aid it allows in. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 235 people including 106 children have died of hunger since the war began in October 2023, with many cases recorded in recent weeks. Netanyahu on Tuesday revived calls to "allow" Palestinians to leave Gaza, telling Israeli broadcaster i24NEWS that "we are not pushing them out, but we are allowing them to leave". Past calls to resettle Gazans outside of the war-battered territory, including from US President Donald Trump, have sparked concern among Palestinians and condemnation from the international community. Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel which triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Of the 251 hostages taken during the attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Israel's offensive has killed at least 61,722 Palestinians, according to figures from the health ministry in Gaza which the United Nations considers reliable.
Daily Maverick
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Israel says Gazans free to exit while Hamas attends Cairo ceasefire talks
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IOL News
8 hours ago
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Palestinians mourn Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif, crew in Gaza
Journalist Anas al-Sharif was one of the key voices reporting the suffering in Gaza. Image: Al Jazeera Louisa Loveluck and Abbie Cheeseman Palestinians in Gaza this week mourned the deaths of five Al Jazeera journalists killed in an Israeli strike on Sunday. In Gaza City, crowds carried the bodies of correspondent Anas al-Sharif and his colleagues, who for many across the Arabic-speaking world were the faces and voices of the past 22 months of war. Sharif, 28, was perhaps the most recognizable, with a near-constant on-air presence from Gaza's hard-hit north. He was killed late Sunday when the Israeli military targeted a tent housing the journalists outside al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The strike also killed reporter Mohammed Qureiqa, and cameramen Ibrahim Thaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa, the network said, calling it a 'blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom". All of them worked for Al Jazeera Arabic, the network's Arabic-language news channel. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the strike and baselessly accused Sharif of serving as the head of a 'Hamas terrorist cell". It cited documents dated from 2019, which it released in October 2024, claiming to show his affiliation with the militant group. Embed code: Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading The IDF has not shared or released any documentation indicating Sharif was involved in military activities during the current conflict and it has not accused any of the other slain journalists of ties to militants. When asked about the others killed in the strike, the IDF said that it had no further comment. Al Jazeera, the Committee to Protect Journalists and a United Nations expert have said that the documents released by the IDF, which accused six other Al Jazeera journalists of being Hamas militants, are not credible. For months, Sharif was harassed by the military on his personal cellphone, his colleagues said, and the threats increased after the IDF's Arabic-language spokesman singled him out in videos the military posted in July. In one clip, Avichay Adraee accuses Sharif of having ties to Hamas's military wing, while working for Al Jazeera, which he describes as 'the most criminal and offensive channel". In another, Adraee mocks Sharif's reporting on starvation in Gaza, calling the July 20 broadcast in which he cried 'a fabricated drama.' As the threats poured in, Al Jazeera urged him to stay close to the media tent near al-Shifa Hospital. 'We took the hard decision to keep Anas on air because it felt like the only guarantee, that they would not kill him while he was on Al Jazeera's screens,' said Mohamed Moawad, the network's managing editor. Four of the slain journalists, from left: Anas al-Sharif, Mohammed Noufal, Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Qreiqeh. Image: Al Jazeera Israel has blocked independent media access to the Gaza Strip throughout the war, leaving Palestinians alone on the ground to cover the conflict. Israel targeted the Al Jazeera team as Israeli forces were preparing to invade and occupy Gaza City, after the security cabinet approved a plan to expand operations last week. In posts to social media less than an hour before his death, Sharif shared footage of what he said were 'fire belts' - heavy, concentrated air and artillery strikes, normally around a single location. That timing made the strike on Sharif a 'convenient killing,' said Irene Khan, the UN special rapporteur for freedom of opinion and expression. 'If something comes out in Al Jazeera, people believe it; it's credible,' she said. 'I see this killing as a very clear strategy. The Israeli government has a very sophisticated communications machinery.' More than 61 000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's campaign in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but says the majority of the dead are women and children. Israel launched the war after the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and saw about 250 others taken to Gaza as hostages. After Sunday's strike, the Committee to Protect Journalists said that at least 184 Palestinian journalists had been killed since the start of the conflict. The organisation had warned less than three weeks ago that it was 'gravely worried' about Sharif's safety and called for the international community to protect him, saying he was being 'targeted by an Israeli military smear campaign' that he believed would be 'a precursor to his assassination". 'It is no coincidence that the smears against al-Sharif - who has reported night and day for Al Jazeera since the start of the war - surfaced every time he reported on a major development in the war,' CPJ regional director Sara Qudah said. 'Israel is murdering the messengers,' she said. 'Israel wiped out an entire news crew. It has made no claims that any of the other journalists were terrorists. That's murder. Plain and simple.' Palestinians carry the body of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, who, along with other journalists, was killed in an Israeli airstrike, during his funeral outside Gaza City's Shifa hospital complex, on Monday. Image: AFP In the hours before Sunday's strike, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, addressed an emergency meeting at the Security Council, which had gathered to discuss Israel's plans to take over Gaza City. He urged the council's member states to send journalists from their countries to Gaza, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at a news conference in Jerusalem, claimed without evidence that some of the recent images of malnourished children in Gaza were 'fake". 'Why don't you, the Security Council, take with you 100 journalists from your countries and other countries to verify exactly what is happening in Gaza,' Mansour said. 'If Netanyahu is so sure of this global conspiracy about a 'lie,' let him prove it.' Khan, the UN rapporteur, said that she had also urged governments around the world to increase pressure on Israel to protect Palestinian journalists and allow independent media access to Gaza. 'On the one hand, Israel keeps saying that all the local media are Hamas; on the other hand, they're blocking international media,' she said. 'Media exposure is a public interest issue. It matters to all of us.' Sunday's strike underscored the perils faced by the Palestinian journalists left to shoulder the burden of reporting Gaza's excoriation, reporting through hunger, displacement, trauma and the loss of family members. They often shared meals and stayed together in tent encampments near Gaza's hospitals, after most of the enclave's buildings were either damaged or destroyed. Journalist Anas al-Sharif reporting outside the Al Ahli hospital this year. Image: AFP As soon as the missile hit about 11.30pm local time, journalists began recording the aftermath on their phones. In one video, people can be heard screaming the names of Sharif and Qureiqa as their bodies are pulled from under what was left of the tent. Al Jazeera English correspondent Hani Mahmoud spoke soon after the attack. He said that delivering the news of the journalists' deaths was 'perhaps the hardest thing I'm reporting about the past 22 months.' Mohamed Abu Salmiya, director of al-Shifa Hospital, said that a total of seven people were killed in the strike, six of them journalists. Tributes to the team and outrage over their deaths flooded social media. 'Anas and his colleagues were among the last remaining voices from within Gaza, providing the world with unfiltered, on-the-ground coverage of the devastating realities endured by its people,' Al Jazeera Media Network said. 'While international media was barred from entering, Al Jazeera journalists remained within besieged Gaza, experiencing the hunger and suffering they documented through their lenses.' Al Jazeera viewers have watched Gaza's horrors unfold through Sharif, who became a household name. Earlier this year, he celebrated a ceasefire - which Israel broke two months later - by removing his helmet and flak jacket.
