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An Israeli airstrike killed Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif and four other journalists in Gaza City, the broadcaster said.
Al-Sharif, 28, one of the news channel’s most prominent voices in Gaza, was killed alongside reporter Mohammed Qreiqeh, and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa.
The director of Shifa hospital, Dr Muhammad Abu Salmiya, told The Independent that in total seven people were killed in the strike, which hit a tent where they were sheltering within the Shifa medical complex in Gaza City.
A lengthy heartbreaking statement posted to Al-Sharif’s X account after his death read: “This is my last will and testament. If these words of mine reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.”
The message concluded: “Do not forget Gaza… And do not forget me in your sincere prayers for forgiveness and acceptance.” Shortly before his death, he posted that there was “non-stop bombing” in the area.
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The remains of the tent in the Shifa hospital complex where Al-Sharif and his four colleagues were killed on Sunday (Reuters)
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) warned last month that it was gravely concerned for Al-Sharif’s safety as he was being “targeted by an Israeli military smear campaign” and that the unfounded accusations “represent an effort to manufacture consent to kill Al-Sharif”.
Dr Salmiya added that part of the hospital’s emergency department was also damaged. He said that his message was to “stop the war of extermination on Gaza”.
“Protect medical facilities, medical personnel, and journalists, allow medicine and food into Gaza, and open the crossings,” he pleaded.
Al Jazeera said that 10 of its journalists have been killed since Israel launched its offensive on Gaza in 2023, including Samer Abudaqqa, Ismael Al-Ghoul, Ahmed Al-Louh, Hossam Shabat and Hamza Dahdouh – son of the publication’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh – as well as many of the family members of its journalists.
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A relative mourns over the body of one of the five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in December 2024 (AP)
Israel’s military claimed late on Sunday that Al-Sharif had “posed as a journalist”, confirming it had targeted and killed him and alleging he was with the Hamas militant group.
“Anas al-Sharif served as the head of a terrorist cell in the Hamas terrorist organisation and was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops,” the Israeli military said in a statement, citing intelligence and documents found in Gaza as evidence.
The CPJ had repeatedly called for the international protection of Al-Sharif, saying he had been “a key source of news from Gaza for international audiences since the war began more than 650 days ago”. They had warned that he was at risk of being killed by Israel.
CPJ regional director Sara Qudah said two weeks ago that “the danger to his life is now acute”.
Reporters without Borders said Israel has killed more than 200 journalists in Gaza since 7 October 2023 – an unprecedented number.
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Al Jazeera journalist Wael Dahdouh holds the hand of his son Hamza, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah in January 2024 (AP)
The CPJ said that globally, 2024 was the deadliest year on record for journalists and that 70 per cent were killed by Israel.
Sunday’s deaths came just hours after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had promised to let some foreign media into Gaza at a press conference in Jerusalem.
Mr Netanyahu has faced internal and global uproar for his decision to push through a plan to widen Israel’s devastating offensive in Gaza, with the aim of imposing full military control on the besieged enclave.
On Sunday, he doubled down on the plan, which has also been widely criticised in Israel. People fear it will endanger the lives of hostages, drag the Israeli military into a protracted, unwinnable war and worsen the humanitarian catastrophe for Palestinian civilians.
Israel launched a punishing bombardment of Gaza and a crippling blockade in retaliation for Hamas’s 7 October attack, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli estimates.
Around 50 hostages and captives are believed to remain in Gaza, although less than 30 are thought to still be alive.
Since then, Israel’s bombings have killed more than 61,000 people and destroyed more than 90 per cent of the enclave, according to the Palestinian health ministry, while widespread famine continues.