How a photo of a malnourished child put The New York Times in Netanyahu's crosshairs
The Israeli prime minister accused the newspaper of defaming Israel with its coverage of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
A front-page photo of Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, an emaciated 18-month-old boy, sparked international outrage last month.
The child's mother said he had been 'born healthy' before suffering severe malnutrition.
Later reports revealed he had suffered from cerebral palsy and complications linked to a genetic disorder – details which were absent from the original piece.
At a press conference announcing his plans to expand military operations and occupy Gaza City, Mr Netanyahu accused the international press of having bought Hamas propaganda 'hook, line, and sinker'.
He then displayed a picture of The New York Times front page from July 25 with the word 'fake' branded across it, saying: 'I'm looking right now into the possibility of a governmental suit against The New York Times, because this is outrageous.
'These are the three most celebrated photos, and they're all fake. We won't allow it to go unchallenged, and this is the purpose of this press conference. I hope you can open your eyes to the simple fact that Hamas lies.'
The New York Times updated the story to give readers 'a greater understanding' of Mohammed's situation, but defended its reporting.
A spokesman of the newspaper said: 'After publication, we learned that a child shown in that story – in addition to being severely malnourished – also had pre-existing health problems. That additional information gave readers a greater understanding of his situation.'
'Attempts to threaten independent media providing vital information and accountability to the public are unfortunately an increasingly common playbook.'
The UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is a globally recognised system for classifying the severity and magnitude of food insecurity and malnutrition.
The IPC says that one in three people is now going without food for days at a time in Gaza.
Hospitals have treated more than 20,000 children for acute malnutrition since April. At least 16 children under five have died from hunger-related causes since mid-July.
'The worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,' the IPC warned.
Satellite imagery released last month showed the hunger crisis was visible from space, as thousands of Palestinians could be seen crowding around aid trucks in desperation.
Under heavy international pressure, Israel last week announced measures to let more aid into Gaza.
Mr Netanyahu insisted that 'hundreds of trucks' had been allowed in, and said that if Israel was implementing 'a starvation policy', then 'no one in Gaza would have survived after two years of war'.
He pointed to disturbing images of Evyatar David, a 24-year-old Israeli hostage who looked severely malnourished in a video released by Hamas. He said: 'The only ones who are being deliberately starved in Gaza are our hostages.'
Several hundred Palestinians have been killed by Israel Defence Forces soldiers since May while heading toward food distribution sites and aid convoys, according to witnesses, local health officials and the United Nations human rights office.
The Israeli military claimed it had only fired warning shots and disputes the toll, which is thought to be well over 1,000 since May.
Speaking during a meeting with Sir Keir Starmer in Scotland last month, Donald Trump said there was 'real starvation' in Gaza.
The US president added: 'Those children look very hungry... that's real starvation stuff. Nobody's done anything great over there. The whole place is a mess... I told Israel maybe they have to do it a different way.'
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The Independent
13 minutes ago
- The Independent
Israel plans to widen coming offensive beyond Gaza City into last areas not under its control
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel plans to widen its coming offensive beyond Gaza City to the last areas not yet under Israeli control, and where most of Gaza's 2 million residents have sought shelter as the territory slides toward famine. The mobilization of forces is expected to take weeks, and Israel may be using the threat of a wider offensive to try to pressure Hamas into releasing more hostages or surrendering after 22 months of war sparked by its Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel. Any expansion of Israeli operations is likely to bring even more death and destruction to the war-ravaged territory, around 75% of which is already largely destroyed and controlled by Israel. A wider offensive would also force more people to flee and further disrupt the delivery of humanitarian aid during a severe hunger crisis. The plans have also sparked controversy in Israel. Families of the remaining hostages fear another military escalation could doom their loved ones, while former senior security officials have said there is little to be gained militarily. Netanyahu says Israel will go into the central camps Israel announced last week its plans to take over Gaza City, where it has already carried out major raids and heavy bombardment throughout the war. On Sunday, Netanyahu told a news conference that operations would be expanded into the 'central camps" and beyond. He appeared to be referring to the built-up Nuseirat and Bureij camps in central Gaza that date back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. Israel has carried out near-daily airstrikes in the camps since the start of the war but no major ground operations. Netanyahu referred to Gaza City, the central camps and Muwasi — a vast cluster of displacement camps along the coast — as Hamas strongholds. These areas, along with the central city of Deir al-Balah, are the only parts of Gaza that have not been almost completely destroyed in previous Israeli operations. They are also areas where Hamas may be holding hostages in tunnels or other secret locations. An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss aspects of the plans that have not been made public, said the operation will not begin immediately and will take a significant amount of time to scale up. One indication will be the potential mobilization of thousands of reservists. The official said the announced plans were partly aimed at putting pressure on various parties. Few places left to flee Netanyahu said Israel will allow civilians to flee to 'designated safe zones,' where 'they will be given ample food, water and medical care, as we have done before.' He did not say where they would go. Israel designated Muwasi as a humanitarian zone earlier in the war. The barren stretch of sandy coastline was soon filled with tents housing hundreds of thousands of people with little in the way of food, running water, toilets or trash collection. Israel has regularly carried out airstrikes against what it said were militants hiding out there, often killing women and children. Last month, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz reportedly floated the idea of transferring Gaza's population to a so-called 'humanitarian city' that the military would build on the ruins of the southernmost city of Rafah — now a largely uninhabited Israeli military zone — on the border with Egypt. Netanyahu has vowed to eventually relocate much of Gaza's population to other countries through what he refers to as voluntary emigration. The Palestinians and much of the international community see it as forcible expulsion because Israel's offensive has made much of Gaza uninhabitable. They fear that concentrating people in the south would be a step toward implementing such plans. A possible negotiating tactic Netanyahu has said he will end the war if Hamas gives up power, lays down its arms and releases the remaining 50 hostages — around 20 of whom are believed by Israel to be alive. Israel would still maintain open-ended security control over Gaza and facilitate the departure of those who wish to leave, according to Netanyahu. He has said Arab forces friendly to Israel would administer the territory, but none are known to have volunteered, aside from an Israeli-backed armed group known for looting aid. Hamas has said, in line with international demands, that it would release the remaining hostages in return for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The militant group says it is willing to hand over power to other Palestinians but will not give up its weapons as long as Israel occupies lands the Palestinians want for a future state. Israel may hope that ratcheting up pressure will yield further concessions from Hamas in U.S.- and Arab-mediated talks that appear to have broken down last month. But the hostages are Hamas' only remaining bargaining chip, and it is unlikely to give them up if it believes that Israel will then resume the war, attempt to eradicate the group and carry out plans to depopulate Gaza. Israel ended a previous ceasefire in March that had facilitated the release of 25 hostages and the remains of eight others. Since then, it has imposed a 2 1/2 month blockade that pushed the territory toward famine, launched daily airstrikes across Gaza, expanded its buffer zone and ordered mass evacuations. Hamas has only released one hostage during that time, as a gesture to the United States. Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 others in the 2023 attack. More than half of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals. Israel's offensive has killed around 61,500 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and run by medical professionals, does not say how many of those killed were civilians or combatants, but it says women and children make up around half of the fatalities. The agency's numbers are considered a reliable estimate by the U.N. and independent experts. Israel disputes them but has not offered its own figures. ___ Associated Press Writer Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report. ___
Times
17 minutes ago
- Times
Macron calls for UN peacekeepers to ‘stabilise' Strip: as it happened
A man accused of spraying graffiti on the city's Western Wall and Great Synagogue will be treated on a psychiatric ward, according to Hebrew media reports. The suspect, 27, from the Haredi community, was arrested after 'There is a holocaust in Gaza' was scrawled on the holy sites early on Monday. A police request to hold him for five days was rejected by the judge, at Jerusalem Magistrate Court, who called the incident a 'sad case,' according to Kan, the public broadcaster. He added: 'I do not ban Jews from the Western Wall,' Ynet reported. The patient's parents reached out to the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, stating he had a mental illness, Ynet added. Anas Al-Sharif celebrated the protagonists of the October 7 terrorist attacks as 'heroes' while the pogrom was under way, an Israeli journalist has claimed. Al-Sharif, the Al Jazeera correspondent killed by Israel's military on Sunday, allegedly sent a Telegram message during the 2023 massacres that read: '9 hours and the heroes are still roaming the country killing and capturing … God, God, how great you are,' and added three green hearts, a colour associated with Hamas. He deleted the post, according to Eitan Fischberger, a former Israeli soldier who describes himself as an 'accidental investigative journalist'. Fischberger's claim was shared by pro-Israel accounts and organisations. However, both Sharif and Al Jazeera, have rejected the IDF accusations that the correspondent was a team commander in Hamas' northern brigade, and therefore a legitimate military target. The IDF said his details were published in the East Jabaliya Battalion's directory, which included his full name, Anas Jamal al-Sharif, a phone number and a codename, Tabit 5. Israel's defence minister has warned Tehran that the country's drones are still flying over the city, after the Islamic Republic published a graphic list of Israeli political and army leaders as targets. 'I suggest to the Iranian dictator Khamenei that when he emerges from his bunker, he occasionally looks up to the sky and listens carefully for any buzzing,' Israel Katz wrote on X. 'The participants of the 'Red Wedding' are waiting for him there,' Katz added, referring to the IDF's opening gambit against Iran in June, when senior commanders and nuclear scientists were assassinated. Katz appeared to be referring to the infamous scene in the hit series Game of Thrones in which leaders were massacred during a wedding party. Norway's sovereign wealth fund — the world's largest — is selling its investments in 11 Israeli companies after revelations it had invested in an Israeli jet-engine maker. 'These measures were taken in response to extraordinary circumstances,' said Nicolai Tangen, chief of Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages the $2 trillion fund. 'The situation in Gaza is a serious humanitarian crisis. We are invested in companies that operate in a country at war, and conditions in the West Bank and Gaza have recently worsened. 'In response, we will further strengthen our due diligence.' The Al Jazeera correspondent who was killed in Gaza on Sunday worked with a Hamas communication office at the start of his career, according to local journalists who knew him. Anas al-Sharif's former job was to publicise events organised by the militant group that has controlled Gaza since 2006, they said. However, the Committee to Protect Journalists said that Israel had failed to provide any evidence to back up its claims that Sharif was a terrorist posing as a reporter. 'Journalists are civilians. They must never be targeted in war. And to do so is a war crime,' Jodie Ginsberg, the chief executive of the independent advocacy group, said. '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.' Palestine Action is a 'violent organisation' that has committed 'significant injury', Downing Street said. Asked about people arrested as part of protests linked to the group, the prime minister's spokesman said: 'We've said that many people may not yet know the reality of this organisation, but the assessments are very clear: this is a violent organisation that has committed violence, significant injury, extensive criminal damage, and as I say, it has met the tests as set out under the Terrorism Act to be proscribed.' Sir Keir Starmer is 'gravely concerned' about the repeated targeting of journalists in Gaza, his spokesman has said. 'Reporters covering conflicts are afforded protection under international humanitarian law, and journalists must be able to report independently, without fear, and Israel must ensure journalists can carry out their work safely,' the prime minister's spokesman said. Asked about the claim that one of the journalists was linked to Hamas, the spokesman said: 'That should be investigated thoroughly and independently, but we are gravely concerned by the repeated targeting of journalists.' Instead of an Israeli military occupation of Gaza, President Macron said an international coalition under a UN mandate should be used to 'stabilise' and secure the territory. 'No to an Israeli military operation. Yes to an international coalition under a UN mandate to fight terrorism, stabilise Gaza and support its populations, and establish a governance of peace and stability,' the French president told BFMTV. He called on the UN security council to 'work to establish this mission and give it a mandate'. 'I have asked my teams to work on it without delay with our partners,' he said, adding that it is 'the only credible way out of an unacceptable situation for the families of hostages as well as for the Gazans' and 'the only credible way to begin to emerge from the permanent war and rebuild peace and security for all'. President Macron has described Israel's plans to step up its military operation in Gaza as 'a disaster of unprecedented gravity'. The French president told BFMTV on Monday: 'We must end this war now with a permanent ceasefire. The Israeli cabinet's announcement of an expansion of its operations in Gaza City … and a reoccupation [of Gaza] by Israel constitutes a disaster of unprecedented gravity and a headlong rush into permanent war.' He added: 'Israeli hostages and the people of Gaza will continue to be the first victims of this strategy.' Anas al-Sharif wrote a 'will and … final message' designed to be published online in the event that 'Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice'. The Al Jazeera correspondent wrote that he had 'lived through pain in all its details, tasted suffering and loss many times, yet I never once hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification — so that Allah may bear witness against those who stayed silent … doing nothing to stop the massacre that our people have faced for more than a year and a half'. In the message, dated April 6, 2025, he wrote of his family, including his wife Umm Salah, and 'my dear son Salah, whom I had wished to support and accompany through life until he grew strong enough to carry my burden and continue the mission'. 'Do not forget Gaza … And do not forget me in your sincere prayers for forgiveness and acceptance,' he added. A 27-year-old suspect has been arrested on suspicion of vandalising the Western Wall and is due to appear in court later on Monday. Israeli police said that they would request that the suspect's detention be extended. The graffiti, reading 'there is a holocaust in Gaza' in Hebrew, appeared earlier this morning on the southern portion of the wall, the holiest site where Jews are allowed to pray. A similar message was also scrawled on the wall of the Great Synagogue, elsewhere in the city, prompting an outcry across the political spectrum in Israel. Bezalel Smotrich, the hardline finance minister, said the perpetrators 'forgot what it means to be Jewish'. Benny Gantz, the former defence minister who is now an opposition leader, called the vandalism 'a crime against the entire Jewish people'. The UN human rights office on Monday condemned the killing of six Palestinian journalists in Gaza as a 'grave breach of international humanitarian law' by Israel's military. The post on X was accompanied by a photograph of flattened blue tents next to a bullet-ridden wall in Gaza City. Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager. Palestinians reported the heaviest bombardments in weeks on Monday in areas east of Gaza City after Binyamin Netanyahu said he expected to complete a new expanded offensive in the territory 'fairly quickly'. Witnesses said Israeli tanks and planes attacked Sabra, Zeitoun, and Shejaia, three eastern suburbs of Gaza City in the north of the territory, on Monday, pushing many families out of their homes westwards. Some Gaza City residents said it was one of the worst nights in weeks, raising fears of military preparations for a deeper offensive into their city, which according to Hamas is now sheltering about a million people after the displacement of residents from the territory's northern edges. The Israeli military said its forces fired artillery at Hamas militants in the area. 'It sounded like the war was restarting,' said Amr Salah, 25. 'Tanks fired shells at houses, and several houses were hit, and the planes carried what we call fire rings, whereby several missiles landed on some roads in eastern Gaza,' he told Reuters via a messaging app. Greta Thunberg and other activists are set to sail a new flotilla loaded with humanitarian aid to Gaza to break what they called the 'illegal Israeli siege' of the territory. The actors, Susan Sarandon, of the US, Gustaf Skarsgard, of Sweden, and Liam Cunningham, of Ireland, are due to take part in the 'Global Sumud Flotilla' which will include activists from 44 countries. 'On August 31st we are launching the biggest attempt ever to break the illegal Israeli siege over Gaza with dozens of boats sailing from Spain,' the Swedish campaigner wrote on Instagram late on Sunday. 'We will meet dozens more on September 4th sailing from Tunisia and other ports.' The exact number of ships due to take part in the flotilla was not specified. Two previous attempts by activists to deliver aid by ship to Gaza, in June and July, were boarded by Israeli troops, and the activists were detained. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Monday condemned the 'acknowledged murder by the Israeli army' of the Al Jazeera correspondent, Anas al-Sharif, and other journalists in Gaza. Where Israel accused Sharif of being a 'terrorist' affiliated with Hamas, the press freedom campaign group said he was 'one of the most famous journalists from the Gaza Strip [and] the voice of the suffering Israel has imposed on Palestinians in Gaza'. RSF called the Israeli allegations that Sharif was a Hamas terrorist, posing as a journalist, 'baseless'. It called on other countries to intervene, saying the UN security council should meet to insist on the protection of journalists in conflict zones. The co-founder of the civil liberty group which organised the protest in support of Palestine Action on Saturday said hundreds of people 'want to be arrested for terrorism because they see it as a badge of honour'. Tim Crosland told Times Radio that the next protest will be 'on a different scale'. 'Already, we've had hundreds and hundreds of people saying that they want to be arrested for terrorism because they see it as a badge of honour, as resistance to genocide,' he said. Asked if he sees it as a 'badge of honour' himself, Crosland replied: 'In this context, yes, I do. I would not be able to look myself in the mirror if I thought I was a bystander to genocide.' He added that the goal of the action is 'to expose the government's hypocrisy over what's happening in Gaza'. The rabbi of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinovitch, has condemned the graffiti on the holy site as a desecration and urges police to investigate. 'A holy place is not a venue for expressing protests — whatever they may be — and all the more so when it is done at the holiest site to the entire Jewish people,' he said in a statement issued by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which manages the site. 'The police must investigate the incident, locate the perpetrators of this desecration, and bring them to justice.' The Western Wall in Jerusalem, the holiest site in Judaism, being the last remnants of the Second Jewish Temple, has been graffitied with the words: 'There is a holocaust in Gaza.' The message, written in Hebrew, is the first time in recent memory that such vandalism has occurred at the protected site, which is inside the Old City and part of a larger wall surrounding the contested Temple Mount compound. The site is in active use, with areas for segregated prayer, and is under heavy security with checkpoints in two of the entrances. It was placed under Israeli control after the war in 1967. Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's national security minister, tweeted that he was shocked to see the graffiti and vowed to bring the perpetrator to justice. 'I was shocked to see the harm and disrespect at the holiest site for the Jewish people — the Western Wall. The Israel police will act with lightning speed to apprehend the offender and bring them to justice,' he wrote. Tom Kington, Rome Guido Crosetto, Italy's defence minister, accusing the Israeli government of 'losing its ability to reason, and its humanity', and comparing its war in Gaza to Russia's attacks on Ukraine. In remarks to Italy's La Stampa newspaper, Crosetto said Binyamin Netanyahu was resorting to policies in Gaza that 'dangerously resemble' those used by Vladimir Putin in Ukraine. Referring to Netanyahu's plan to occupy Gaza, Crosetto said: 'The motive of a legitimate defence of a democracy after it suffers a terrible terrorist attack is no longer convincing. We are watching a very different undertaking: the conquest of a foreign territory which involves a humanitarian catastrophe.' Crosetto said Italy did not have plans to recognise the Palestinian state. 'No, because there is no state, and recognising a state which does not exist risks becoming a political provocation in a world which is already dying from too many provocations,' he said. Israel's ambassador to the UN responded to the strike that killed six journalists, saying that a 'terrorist with a camera is still a terrorist'. On Monday, Danny Danon called Sharif 'a terrorist operating under the guise of an Al Jazeera journalist' on X. However Ayman Odeh, an Israeli opposition MP, bemoaned that any profession in Gaza is 'marked for death'. 'Journalists must not be in Gaza. Doctors must not be in Gaza. Football players must not be in Gaza. Children must not be in Gaza. Women must not be in Gaza. Human beings must not be in Gaza,' Odeh wrote on X. He added: 'Because for the Israeli government, it is permissible to kill journalists. It is permissible to erase witnesses. It is permissible to silence voices that report what is happening there.' A video showing the fatal shooting of a Palestinian rights activist by an Israeli settler was published on Sunday by an Israeli human rights group. Odeh Hadalin, who contributed footage to the Oscar-winning documentary, No Other Land, was killed on July 28 by Yinon Levi. Levi has previously been sanctioned by the US for violence against Palestinians and was arrested after he shot Hadalin, only to be released and placed under house arrest over claims of self defence. In the video, Hadalin, from Umm al-Khair in the south Hebron Hills, is shown standing in close range of the shooter. There has been no allegation that he posed any threat. He was buried last week after the army released his body ten days after his death. Bono and the other members of U2 have published a lengthy criticism of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. The statement on the Irish band's website, with quotes from all four members of the group, starts with reflections on the atrocities committed when Hamas launched its war against Israel on October 7, 2023 — which Bono repeatedly calls 'evil' — before condemning Israel for the humanitarian crisis created in Gaza. 'The blocking of humanitarian aid and now plans for a military takeover of Gaza City has taken the conflict into uncharted territory,' the band writes. 'We are not experts in the politics of the region, but we want our audience to know where we each stand.' Bono, an activist for numerous social causes, writes: 'Our band stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine who truly seek a path to peace and coexistence with Israel and with their rightful and legitimate demand for statehood.' At least 145 of the 193 UN members now recognise or plan to recognise a Palestinian state at the general assembly, which Israel's prime minister has criticised as 'shameful'. Binyamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that international calls to recognise Palestinian statehood 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 added. Israel's ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, said Albanese's decision was symbolic and 'will not change the reality on the ground'. After similar moves to recognise a Palestinian state by France, Britain and Canada, Winston Peters, New Zealand's foreign minister, said his government could follow suit when the country's cabinet meets next month. Peters said he and his fellow ministers would 'weigh up the issue carefully and then act according to New Zealand's principles, values and interests'. He added that New Zealand's recognition of a Palestinian state was a 'matter of when, not if'. Australia's announcement that it will recognise a Palestinian state at the UN general assembly in September came close to a week after an estimated 200,000 people marched across Sydney Harbour Bridge in protest against Israel's ongoing military campaign in Gaza. On Monday, Australia's prime minister said that his nation would formally recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations general assembly in September. Speaking after a cabinet meeting in Canberra, Anthony Albanese said Australia would 'recognise the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own, predicated on the commitments Australia has received from the Palestinian Authority'. He added: 'We will work with the international community to make this right a reality. Australia is making this statement today following our cabinet meeting as part of a co-ordinated global effort, building momentum for a two-state solution.' The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an American non-profit organisation, has confirmed the deaths of 186 journalists since the start of Israel's military offensive in Gaza in October 2023. After this latest attack, the CPJ said it was 'appalled' to learn of the journalists' deaths. 'Israel's pattern of labelling journalists as militants without providing credible evidence raises serious questions about its intent and respect for press freedom,' Sara Qudah, the CPJ regional director for the Middle East, said. 'Journalists are civilians and must never be targeted. Those responsible for these killings must be held accountable.' Israel's military said that Sharif was the head of a Hamas cell and 'was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops', citing intelligence and documents found in Gaza as evidence. Last October, Israel's military had named Sharif as one of six journalists in Gaza whom it alleged were members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, citing documents it said showed salaries and lists of people who completed training courses. Al Jazeera, which is based in Qatar, said it categorically rejected the accusations. Israel does not allow foreign journalists to report independently from Gaza. Anas al-Sharif, 28, was among a group of four Al Jazeera journalists and an assistant who died in a strike on a tent near al-Shifa Hospital in eastern Gaza City. A sixth journalist, Mohammad al-Khaldi, a local freelance reporter, was also killed in the attack, medics at the hospital said on Monday. Calling Sharif 'one of Gaza's bravest journalists', Al Jazeera said the attack was a 'desperate attempt to silence voices in anticipation of the occupation of Gaza'. Al Jazeera named the others killed in the strike as Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa. A prominent Al Jazeera journalist, who had previously been threatened by Israel, was killed with four colleagues in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday, in an attack condemned by journalists and rights groups. Israel's military said it had targeted and killed Anas al-Sharif, alleging that he led a Hamas cell and was involved in rocket attacks against Israel, which Al Jazeera denies. Before his death Sharif had denied being connected to Hamas.
North Wales Chronicle
41 minutes ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Al Jazeera correspondents among journalists killed in Gaza City air strike
Anas al-Sharif and his Al Jazeera colleague Mohamed Qreiqeh were among those killed while sheltering outside the Gaza City Hospital complex late on Sunday. Officials at Shifa Hospital confirmed the deaths and said the strike also killed four other journalists and two other people. It also damaged the entrance to the hospital complex's emergency building. Israel's military described Mr al-Sharif as the leader of a Hamas cell – an allegation that Al Jazeera and Mr al-Sharif had previously dismissed as baseless. The incident marked the first time during the war that Israel's military has swiftly claimed responsibility after a journalist was killed in a strike. It came less than a year after Israeli army officials first accused Mr al-Sharif and other Al Jazeera journalists of being members of the militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. In a July 24 video, Israel's army spokesman Avichay Adraee attacked Al Jazeera and accused Mr al-Sharif of being part of Hamas's military wing. Al Jazeera called the strike a 'targeted assassination' and accused Israeli officials of incitement, connecting Mr al-Sharif's death to the allegations that both the broadcaster and correspondent had denied. '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 in a statement. Apart from rare invitations to observe Israeli military operations, international media have been barred from entering Gaza for the duration of the war. Al Jazeera is among the few outlets still fielding a big team of reporters inside the besieged strip, chronicling daily life amid air strikes, hunger and the rubble of destroyed neighbourhoods. The broadcaster has suffered heavy losses during the war, including 27-year-old correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul and cameraman Rami al-Rifi, killed last summer, and freelancer Hossam Shabat, killed in an Israeli air strike in March. Like Mr al-Sharif, Mr Shabat was among the six that Israel accused of being members of militant groups last October. Hundreds of people, including many journalists, gathered on Monday to mourn Mr al-Sharif, Mr Qreiqeh and their colleagues. Mr al-Sharif reported a nearby bombardment minutes before his death. In a social media post that Al Jazeera said was written to be posted in case of his death, he bemoaned the devastation and destruction that war had wrought and bid farewell to his wife, son and daughter. 'I never hesitated for a single day to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification,' the 28-year-old wrote. The journalists are the latest to be killed in what observers have called the deadliest conflict for journalists in modern times. The Committee to Protect Journalists said on Monday that at least 192 journalists have been killed in Gaza. Mr al-Sharif began reporting for Al Jazeera a few days after war broke out. He was known for reporting on Israel's bombardment in northern Gaza, and later for the starvation gripping much of the territory's population. Mr Qreiqeh, a 33-year-old Gaza City native, is survived by two children. Both journalists were separated from their families for months earlier in the war. When they managed to reunite during the ceasefire earlier this year, their children appeared unable to recognise them, according to video footage they posted at the time. In a July broadcast he cried on air as a woman behind him collapsed from hunger. 'I am talking about slow death of those people,' he said at the time. Al Jazeera is blocked in Israel and soldiers raided its offices in the occupied West Bank last year, ordering them to close. Mr al-Sharif's death comes weeks after the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said Israel had targeted him with a smear campaign. Irene Khan, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression, on July 31 said that the killings were 'part of a deliberate strategy of Israel to suppress the truth, obstruct the documentation of international crimes and bury any possibility of future accountability'. The Committee to Protect Journalists said on Sunday that it was appalled by the strike. 'Israel's pattern of labelling journalists as militants without providing credible evidence raises serious questions about its intent and respect for press freedom,' Sara Qudah, the group's regional director, said.
