Israel Killed Five Al Jazeera Journalists in Airstrike, Network Says

Hindustan Times

3 days ago

TEL AVIV—An Israeli airstrike killed five Al Jazeera journalists, including one of the most prominent reporting from Gaza, the network said Monday.
The Israeli military confirmed it targeted Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif in a strike Sunday night, accusing him of being a member of Hamas's military wing who headed a cell and was linked to rocket attacks against Israel.
The military said its assessment was based on documents found in Gaza including spreadsheets of Hamas operatives, which appeared to show Al-Sharif enlisted with the militant group in 2013. An Israeli military spokesperson alleged Monday that he was still affiliated with Hamas when it carried out the strike.
The Al Jazeera network, the most-watched broadcast news channel in the Arab world, denied the allegations. It confirmed that Al Sharif, 28, was killed along with four of its other journalists.
The men were at a tent near the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City at the time of the attack, Al Jazeera said.
The Israeli strike happened close to the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
Al-Sharif had a following of hundreds of thousands of people on social networks and had been concerned for his safety in recent weeks, according to his posts on X.
The Committee to Protect Journalists called for his protection last month, saying it was gravely worried for his safety after the Israeli military's Arabic language spokesperson alleged he was a terrorist, a claim the committee said was false.
The killing comes days after Israel's security cabinet approved a plan to expand the war in Gaza beginning with a takeover of Gaza City, the largest population center in the north of the enclave. The decision drew condemnation from European governments and aid groups over the prospect of renewed fighting and displacements amid a humanitarian crisis that has pushed many Palestinians toward starvation.
'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 said.
Israel banned the Qatar-funded network earlier last year, declaring it to be a threat to national security. While the ban under an October 2023 emergency order is temporary, it has been consistently renewed. International and Israeli rights groups have criticized the move as undemocratic.
The war in Gaza has been deadly for Palestinian journalists, some of whom Israel has accused of being militants. The Committee to Protect Journalists has said that at least 186 journalists have been killed in Gaza since the war began almost two years ago amid what it called unsubstantiated claims by Israel that many were terrorists.
Foreign journalists are banned from entering Gaza and independently reporting on the situation on the ground.
Write to Anat Peled at [e-mail]