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DOHA: Israel’s targeted killing of an Al Jazeera correspondent in Gaza over the weekend was noteworthy even for a conflict remarkably blood-soaked for journalists, leaving some experts to marvel that any news at all emerges from the territory.
An Al Jazeera executive said Monday that it won’t back down from covering what is going on there and called for news organizations to step up and recruit more journalists. A total of 184 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed by Israel in the Gaza war since its start in October 2023, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. That compares to the 18 journalists and media workers killed so far in the Russia-Ukraine war, CPJ said.
Aside from rare guided tours, Israel has barred international media from covering the 22-month war in Gaza. News organizations instead rely largely on Palestinian Gaza residents and ingenuity to show the world what is happening there. Israel often questions the affiliations and biases of Palestinian journalists but doesn’t permit others in.
“You simply are in awe when stories show up,” said Jane Ferguson, a veteran war correspondent and founder of Noosphere, an independent platform for journalists. She can’t recall a conflict that has been more difficult for reporters to cover, and she’s reported from South Sudan, Syria and Afghanistan.
Correspondent Anas Al-Sharif knew he was a target, and left behind a message to be delivered upon his death. He and seven other people — six of them journalists — were killed in an air strike outside of Gaza City’s largest hospital complex on Sunday. Israel swiftly claimed responsibility, saying without producing evidence that Al-Sharif had led a Hamas cell. It was a claim the news organization and Al-Sharif had denied.
The toll of journalists in Gaza has been high
Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press, BBC News and Reuters are among the organizations regularly reporting from Gaza. An Aug. 7 AP dispatch vividly described the hunger faced by many in Gaza: “A single bowl of eggplant stewed in watery tomato juice must sustain Sally Muzhed’s family of six for the day. She calls it moussaka, but it’s a pale echo of the fragrant, lawyered, meat-and-vegetable dish that once filled Gaza’s kitchens with its aroma.”
Other recent AP reports carried images and text reporting from the aftermath of an Israeli strike on Gaza’s only Catholic church, and a profile of an 18-year-old aspiring doctor now trying to survive sheltered in a tent.
Journalists from The Washington Post and the Guardian recently accompanied a Jordanian relief mission and took images of Gaza from the air, despite some restrictions from Israel. The Guardian’s Lorenzo Tondo wrote: “Seen from the air, Gaza looks like the ruins of an ancient civilization, brought to light after centuries of darkness.”
None of the organizations match the power and immediacy of Al Jazeera, however, in part because their correspondents have been in front of cameras. They’ve also paid the heaviest price: CPJ estimates that 11 journalists and media workers affiliated with AJ have been killed in the Gaza conflict, more than any other single organization.
In a social media post written in June to be sent if he was killed, Al-Sharif wrote that “I have 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.”
In another posting on X on Aug. 10, the day that he was killed, Al-Sharif wrote of the challenges covering the aftermath of one attack. He said he lost his strength and ability to express himself when he arrived at the scene.
“Body parts and blood were all around us, and corpses were scattered on top of each other,” he wrote. “Tell me what words and phrases could help any journalist describe this horrific image. When I told you on air that it was an ‘indescribable scene,’ I was truly helpless in the face of this horrific sight.”
Al Jazeera calls for other news organizations to come forward
Salah Negm, news director at Al Jazeera English, said Monday it is very difficult to get people in to Gaza. But it is full of educated people and those with training in journalism who can help get stories out. He called on other news organizations to step up.
“We get the news from several sources on the ground in Gaza — not only journalists but also doctors, hospitals, civil servants, aid workers,” Negm said. “A lot of people in Gaza talk to us.”
Many of the journalists working in Gaza are facing the same struggles to find food, for themselves and their families, as the people they are covering. Noosphere’s Ferguson said she’s never before had to ask a reporter whether she had enough food for herself and her child.
In an interview in May on “Democracy Now!,” 22-year-old journalist Abubaker Abed described the difficult decision he made to leave Gaza to pursue his education in Ireland. Not only was he suffering from malnutrition, he said, but his mother was concerned that his work as a journalist would make him and his family targets.
“If I stayed, I would die,” he said.
Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said she’s concerned about the implications for journalists in future conflicts if what is happening in Gaza is allowed to continue without international condemnation that has real teeth.
“They’re essentially admitting in public to what amounts to a war crime,” Ginsberg said, “and they can do that because none of the other attacks on journalists have had any consequences. not in this war and not prior. It’s not surprising that it can act with this level of impunity because no international government has really taken it to task.”
Given all that they face, “to me, the most remarkable thing is that journalists are continuing to cover (Gaza) at all,” she said.

LONDON: Condemnation is mounting worldwide after Israeli forces killed prominent Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif and four of his colleagues in Gaza, with fellow reporters, rights groups and officials accusing Israel of deliberately targeting the reporter for his coverage.

Al-Sharif was killed alongside reporter Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa when an Israeli strike hit their tent in Gaza on Sunday.

Gaza’s civil defense agency said the strike also killed a Palestinian freelance journalist, Mohammed Al-Khaldi, who had succumbed to his wounds, bringing the total to six.

The IDF has admitted to carrying out the attack, and justified it by alleging Al-Sharif was a “terrorist.”

Reporters Without Borders condemned what it called the “acknowledged murder” of one of Al Jazeera’s most prominent correspondents in Gaza, noting that the Israeli Defence Forces openly targeted him and others.

This is my will and my final message. If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice. First, peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings.

Allah knows I gave every effort and all my strength to be a support and a voice for my…

— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0)

The Committee to Protect Journalists said it was “appalled” by the killing, stressing that Israeli claims of Al- Sharif’s Hamas membership lacked evidence.

“Israel’s pattern of labeling journalists as militants without providing credible evidence raises serious questions about its intent and respect for press freedom,” said Sara Qudah, the CPJ’s director for the Middle East and North Africa.

The office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk issued a similar condemnation on Monday, saying Israel’s targeted killing of six journalists in Gaza was a “grave breach of international humanitarian law.”

Al-Sharif’s death came weeks after the CPJ and other organizations had warned of threats against him, following a post by IDF spokesperson Avichai Adraee on X accusing him of belonging to Hamas’ military wing.

The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression Irene Khan at the time called the claim “unsubstantiated” and “a blatant assault on journalists.”

On Sunday night, the IDF repeated its allegations, claiming Al-Sharif was “head of a Hamas terrorist cell” and had orchestrated rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and troops while “posing as an Al Jazeera journalist.”

It cited “intelligence and documents from Gaza” — including rosters, training lists, and salary records — none of which Arab News could independently verify.

STRUCK: Hamas terrorist Anas Al-Sharif, who posed as an Al Jazeera journalist

Al-Sharif was the head of a Hamas terrorist cell and advanced rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and IDF troops.
Intelligence and documents from Gaza, including rosters, terrorist training lists and…

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF)

Israel has often been accused of making similar claims without substantiation, a pattern critics say is reinforced by the inability of independent foreign journalists to enter Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans on Sunday to allow some foreign reporters into the enclave, but only under military escort — a condition that press freedom groups warn would compromise journalistic independence.

Since the start of Israel’s 22-month siege of Gaza, Tel Aviv has killed nearly 200 journalists, with rights groups documenting cases of what they describe as direct, intentional strikes that could amount to war crimes.

Tributes to Al-Sharif, Qreiqeh, Zaher, Noufal and Aliwa have poured in, with many demanding accountability.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Ken Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, said silencing coverage of atrocities is a “despicable rationale” for killing journalists.

“This was a targeted killing,” Roth said. Israel’s “unsubstantiated, unilateral accusations” that Al-Sharif led a unit of Hamas “are worthless.”

“And when you couple that with the pattern of harassment against him, the efforts to silence him, it’s clear what’s going on,” Roth added.

Barry Malone, a former Al Jazeera editor and Reuters correspondent, described Al-Sharif as “our eyes” in Gaza, bringing “special emotion and depth” to his reporting.

A few days ago, Anas al-Sharif publicly pleaded for protection, especially after being directly targeted by incendiary Israeli rhetoric. The spokesperson for the Israeli military issued threats against him. Some human rights advocates and press freedom organizations raised the…

— Mosab Abu Toha (@MosabAbuToha)

Pulitzer Prize–winning Palestinian poet and former Israeli detainee Mosab Abu Toha accused Western media of a “deafening silence.” He said “not one of them voiced concern for the safety of Anas, or for the lives of the journalists systematically targeted and killed.”

“This silence is not neutrality. It is complicity,” he added in a post on X.

US Representative Pramila Jayapal also condemned the killing, urging Washington to halt arms supplies to Israel.

Al-Sharif’s final message, written on April 6 and published posthumously, was addressed to his wife, Umm Salah (Bayan), his son, Salah, and his loved ones. In the message he urged for the liberation of Palestine.

“This is my will and my final message. If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.

“I have 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.

“Do not forget Gaza … And do not forget me in your sincere prayers for forgiveness and acceptance.”