Gazans mourn as Zionists kill Al Jazeera journalists

Kuwait Times

21 hours ago

GAZA: Gazans gathered on Monday for the funeral of five Al Jazeera staff members and a sixth reporter killed in a Zionist airstrike, with Zionist entity calling one of them a 'terrorist' affiliated with Hamas. Dozens stood amid bombed-out buildings in the courtyard of Al-Shifa hospital to pay their respects to Anas Al-Sharif, a prominent Al Jazeera correspondent aged 28, and four of his colleagues, killed on Sunday. A sixth journalist, Mohammed Al-Khaldi who worked as a freelance reporter, was also killed in the strike that targeted the Al Jazeera team, according to the director of Al-Shifa Hospital, Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya.
Their bodies, wrapped in white shrouds with their faces exposed, were carried through narrow alleys to their graves by mourners including men wearing blue journalists' flak jackets. Zionist entity confirmed it had targeted Sharif, whom it labeled a 'terrorist' affiliated with Hamas, saying he 'posed as a journalist'. Al Jazeera said its employees were hit in a tent set up for journalists outside the main gate of a hospital in Gaza City.
The four other staff members killed were Mohammed Qreiqeh, also a correspondent, and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal
and Moamen Aliwa. 'Anas Al-Sharif served as the head of a terrorist cell in the Hamas terrorist organization and was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against civilians and IDF (Zionist) troops,' the military said in a statement.
'The IDF had previously disclosed intelligence information and many documents found in the Gaza Strip, confirming his military affiliation to Hamas,' it said. It published a graphic showing what it said was a list of Hamas operatives in northern Gaza, including Sharif's name, as well as an image of him emblazoned with the word: 'Eliminated'. It also published a list it said showed Sharif had been paid $200 by Hamas after an injury, as well as a list it said was a Hamas battalion's phone directory that included Sharif's number. Sharif was one of the channel's most recognizable faces working on the ground in Gaza, providing daily reports on the now 22-month-old war.
'One of the bravest'
A posthumous message, written in April in case of his death, was published on his account on Monday morning saying he had been silenced and urging people 'not to forget Gaza'. 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 publicize events organized by the militant group that has exercised total control over Gaza since 2006. Following online posts by Zionist entity's Arabic-language military spokesman Avichay Adraee on Sharif, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called in July for his protection, accusing Zionist entity of a 'pattern' of labeling journalists militants 'without providing credible evidence'.
It said the military had leveled similar accusations against other journalists in Gaza earlier in the war, including other Al Jazeera staff. 'International law is clear that active combatants are the only justified targets in a war setting, so unless the IDF can demonstrate that Anas Al-Sharif was still an active combatant, then there is no justification for his killing,' Jodie Ginsberg, CPJ's chief executive, told AFP. AFP has contacted the military for comment. Al Jazeera called the attack that killed Sharif 'a desperate attempt to silence voices exposing the occupation', as it described Sharif as 'one of Gaza's bravest journalists'.
It also said it followed 'repeated incitement and calls by multiple Zionist officials and spokespersons to target the fearless journalist Anas Al Sharif and his colleagues'. Reporters Without Borders says nearly 200 journalists have been killed in the war so far. International reporters are prevented from travelling to Gaza by Zionist entity, except on occasional tightly controlled trips with the military. The strike on the journalists came with criticism mounting over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to expand the war in the Gaza Strip.
The security cabinet voted last week to conquer the remaining quarter or so of the territory not yet controlled by troops, including much of Gaza City and Al-Mawasi, the area designated a safe zone by Zionist entity where huge numbers of Palestinians have sought refuge. The plan, which Zionist media reported had triggered bitter disagreement between the government and military leadership, drew condemnation from protesters in Zionist entity and numerous countries, including Zionist allies. Notably, the plans caused Germany, a major weapons supplier and staunch ally, to suspend shipments to Zionist entity of any arms that could be used in Gaza.
Recognizing Palestine
Australia and New Zealand said they would join a growing list of Western nations in recognizing a Palestinian state. Australia will recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday. 'A two-state solution is humanity's best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and to bring an end to the conflict, suffering and starvation in Gaza,' he told reporters in Canberra. 'Until (Zionist entity) and Palestinian statehood is permanent, peace can only be temporary. 'Australia will recognize the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own. We will work with the international community to make this right a reality.'
According to an AFP tally, at least 145 of the 193 UN members now recognize or plan to recognize a Palestinian state, including France, Canada and Britain. 'There is a moment of opportunity here, and Australia will work with the international community to seize it,' Albanese said. He said that Australia's decision was predicated on reassurances from the Palestinian Authority that there would be 'no role for the terrorists of Hamas in any future Palestinian state'. The Palestinian Authority, however, does not have a presence in Gaza, which has been governed by Hamas for nearly two decades.
Zionist ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, said the decision was symbolic, rather than 'genuine progress towards peace'. 'Let us be clear: this decision will not change the reality on the ground,' Maimon said in a statement on social media. 'Australia elevates the position of Hamas, a group it acknowledges as a terrorist organization, while weakening the cause of those working to end violence and achieve genuine, lasting peace.'
Just hours earlier, Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized international calls to recognize Palestinian statehood, saying it would 'not bring peace, it will bring war'. 'To have European countries and Australia march into that rabbit hole, just like that, fall right into it and buy this canard is disappointing, and I think it's actually shameful,' he said. International concern is growing about the plight of the more than two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where the fighting has triggered a dire humanitarian crisis and warnings of mass starvation.
Albanese further criticized the Zionist government on Monday, saying it continued to defy 'international law and deny sufficient aid'. As the global movement to recognize a Palestinian state grows, New Zealand's Foreign Minister Winston Peters said his country would carefully consider whether to do the same over the next month. He added that New Zealand's recognition of a Palestinian state was a 'matter of when, not if'. 'The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is rightly at the forefront of the global agenda,' he said. - AFP