Latest news with #MohamedQureiqa
Al-Ahram Weekly
a day ago
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Gaza journalist killings part of Israel's ‘media genocide': Egypt Journalists Syndicate - Foreign Affairs
The Egyptian Journalists Syndicate has condemned what it called a 'heinous crime' by Israeli forces in the killing of six Palestinian journalists near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, describing it as part of a wider 'media genocide' targeting reporters in the enclave. The targeted Israeli airstrike killed Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohamed Qureiqa, photojournalists Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa, freelance reporter Mohamed Khalidi, and al-Sharif's 19-year-old nephew, Mosaab al-Sharif, according to officials at Al-Shifa Hospital. In a Monday statement, the syndicate said it "mourns the six colleagues, and also mourns the global conscience, which is being buried day after day along with the witnesses of truth and the martyrs of genocide and systematic starvation inflicted by the Zionist war machine on the people of Gaza." It said the killings—acknowledged by the Israeli military—formed part of a systematic campaign against Gaza's press. The Israeli army has deliberately killed over 230 journalists and media workers since the war began, it noted, surpassing the combined death toll of reporters in the Vietnam and Iraq wars and marking the deadliest conflict for the profession since World War II. The syndicate said the Israeli army had wounded hundreds more journalists, detained dozens without charge, and destroyed the homes of many, leaving them displaced. It accused Israel of seeking to silence coverage by targeting reporters' families and destroying their homes, while weaponizing starvation as 'a tool of genocide.' It also accused the United States of providing direct military and political support to Israel and denounced what it called 'shameful international complicity' and 'unprecedented Arab weakness.' The statement urged urgent international action to halt the 'ongoing crime' and bring those responsible to trial, warning that failure to act would make expressions of solidarity 'a form of complicity' in genocide. 'This is not the journalists' battle alone,' it said. 'It is a human battle against a killing machine that will not even allow the victims to tell their own story—one that must end the era of impunity before Gaza and the world's conscience are buried together.' Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Al-Ahram Weekly
a day ago
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Killing of Gaza journalists part of Israel's 'doomed bid to silence the truth': Al-Azhar - Foreign Affairs
The Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism on Monday mourned Israel's killing of six Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza, describing their deaths as part of the occupation's ongoing doomed attempts to suppress the truth. The targeted airstrike killed Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohamed Qureiqa, photojournalists Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa, freelance reporter Mohamed Khalidi, and al-Sharif's 19-year-old nephew, Mosaab al-Sharif, according to officials at Al-Shifa Hospital. In a statement, the Observatory said the journalists' killing in a 'brutal bombardment' of their tent aimed to impose 'absolute silence' on Gaza—an effort it said was 'doomed to fail in the face of cries of truth that will not fade.' The statement accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of 'brazenly' denying the famine in Gaza, dismissing it as a 'campaign of lies' while ignoring 'heartbreaking images of children weakened by hunger.' It described these remarks as 'a continuation of the occupation's policy of deception,' disregarding 'living testimonies, the cries of empty stomachs, and the grief that has shaken the world's conscience.' Quoting Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels' maxim—'Lie, lie, and lie again until people believe you'—the Observatory alleged that Netanyahu and his government applied it 'with precision,' lying 'knowingly' while persisting in 'arrogance and brutality.' 'These journalists were not combatants but witnesses to genocide—until they became its victims,' the statement said, stressing that the Israeli military knew their profession. The Observatory concluded by mourning all journalists killed in Gaza—now numbering over 242—as well as thousands of other Palestinians, it described as 'permanent targets of an occupier that has lost its humanity.' It said their memory 'will remain a resounding cry against global silence.' Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
The Independent
a day ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Israeli strike kills journalists in Gaza City, worsening the death toll for the media
Israel's military targeted an Al Jazeera correspondent with an airstrike Sunday, killing him, another network journalist and at least six other people, all of whom were sheltering outside the Gaza City Hospital complex. Officials at Shifa Hospital said those killed included Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohamed Qureiqa. The strike also killed four other journalists and two other people, hospital administrative director Rami Mohanna told The Associated Press. The strike also damaged the entrance to the hospital complex's emergency building. Both Israel and hospital officials in Gaza City confirmed the deaths, which press advocates described as retribution against those documenting the war in Gaza. Israel's military later Sunday described al-Sharif as the leader of a Hamas cell — an allegation that Al Jazeera and 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 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 spokesperson Avichay Adraee attacked Al Jazeera and accused al-Sharif of being part of Hamas' military wing. Al Jazeera called the strike 'targeted assassination' and accused Israeli officials of incitement, connecting al-Sharif's death to the allegations that both the network 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,' the Qatari network said in a statement. International media have been mostly barred from entering Gaza throughout the war and Al Jazeera is among the few outlets still fielding a big team of reporters inside Gaza, chronicling daily life amid airstrikes, hunger and the rubble of destroyed neighborhoods. The network 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 airstrike in March. Like al-Sharif, Shabat was among the six that Israel accused of being members of militant groups last October. Hundreds of people, including many journalists, gathered Monday to mourn al-Sharif, Qureiqa and their colleagues. The bodies lay wrapped in white sheets at Gaza City's Shifa Hospital complex. Ahed Ferwana of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said reporters were being deliberately targeted and urged the international community to act. 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 Sunday that at least 186 have been killed in Gaza and Brown University's Watson Institute in April said the war was 'quite simply, the worst ever conflict for reporters.' 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. Qureiqa, 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 recognize them, according to video footage they posted at the time. In a July broadcast al-Sharif cried on air as woman behind him collapsed from hunger. 'I am taking 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 closed. Al-Sharif's death comes weeks after a U.N. expert and the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said Israel had targeted him with a smear campaign. Irene Khan, the U.N. 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 labeling 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 in a statement. ___
Washington Post
a day ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Israeli strike kills journalists in Gaza City, worsening the death toll for the media
JERUSALEM — Israel's military targeted an Al Jazeera correspondent with an airstrike Sunday, killing him, another network journalist and at least six other people, all of whom were sheltering outside the Gaza City Hospital complex. Officials at Shifa Hospital said those killed included Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohamed Qureiqa. The strike also killed four other journalists and two other people, hospital administrative director Rami Mohanna told The Associated Press. The strike also damaged the entrance to the hospital complex's emergency building.
Associated Press
a day ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Israeli strike kills journalists in Gaza City, worsening the death toll for the press
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's military targeted an Al Jazeera correspondent with an airstrike Sunday, killing him, another network journalist and at least six other people, all of whom were sheltering outside the Gaza City Hospital complex. Officials at Shifa Hospital said those killed included Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohamed Qureiqa. The strike also killed four other journalists and two other people, hospital administrative director Rami Mohanna told The Associated Press. The strike also damaged the entrance to the hospital complex's emergency building. Both Israel and hospital officials in Gaza City confirmed the deaths, which press advocates described as retribution against those documenting the war in Gaza. Israel's military later Sunday described al-Sharif as the leader of a Hamas cell — an allegation that Al Jazeera and 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 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 spokesperson Avichay Adraee attacked Al Jazeera and accused al-Sharif of being part of Hamas' military wing. Al Jazeera called the strike 'targeted assassination' and accused Israeli officials of incitement, connecting al-Sharif's death to the allegations that both the network 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,' the Qatari network said in a statement. 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 Sunday that at least 186 have been killed in Gaza. 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. In a July broadcast he cried on air as woman behind him collapsed from hunger. 'I am taking 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 closed. Al-Sharif's death comes weeks after the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said Israel had targeted him with a smear campaign. 'Israel's pattern of labeling 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 in a statement. ___ Magdy reported from Cairo.
