Israeli forces assassinated two of Gaza’s leading journalists and their entire crew on Sunday night, signalling the likely start of a major assault on Gaza City, reports the Middle East Eye. The director of Gaza’s Al Shifa Medical Complex confirmed that Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqea died when Israeli forces struck their tent, in what he said appears to have been a deliberate attack on media workers.
Cameramen and photojournalists Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Mosaab Al Sharif were also killed.
Al Sharif, 28, was based outside the hospital’s main gate, reporting extensively from northern Gaza. Shortly before his death, Al Sharif posted on X about Israel’s concentrated missile strikes on the eastern and southern parts of Gaza City. His final video captured the deafening booms of the attacks near to where he was.
Jodie Ginsberg, chief executive of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), told Al Jazeera on Sunday that Al Sharif’s killing fits a longstanding Israeli pattern of targeting journalists. “This is not just about Anas Al Sharif; it is part of a decades-long practice in which Israel kills journalists,” she said.
The killing of the five media workers comes days after Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan to occupy the Gaza Strip. The operation aims to seize Gaza City and forcibly clear its nearly one million Palestinian residents.
While Israel officially called this a “takeover,” Israeli media reported the term “occupy” was avoided to dodge legal responsibilities under international law.
In July, Israeli army spokesperson Avichai Adraee shared a video threatening father of two, Al Sharif, in a message widely condemned for openly targeting a journalist.
Tributes to the journalist have started pouring in. “No bulletproof vest can protect against Israeli psychopathy,” fellow journalist Mariam Barghouti wrote in a post on X.
“Anas, like all journalists in Gaza, was killed for sharing the truth without filter – doing what most journalists in their comfortable offices cannot: their job,” she added.
Since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023, it has frequently targeted Palestinian journalists reporting on the ongoing genocide. More than 200 journalists and media workers have been killed by Israeli military operations during the conflict, including several from Al Jazeera and their family members.
