Five Al Jazeera Journalists, Including Anas Al-Sharif, Killed in Israeli Airstrike on Gaza

10th August 2025

3 minutes read

Five Al Jazeera Journalists, Including Anas Al-Sharif, Killed in Israeli Airstrike on Gaza

Israel admits targeting Al-Sharif, accusing him of leading a Hamas cell and being responsible for rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and military forces.

A prominent Al Jazeera journalist, previously threatened by Israel, was killed on Sunday along with four colleagues in a strike condemned by press freedom and human rights groups.

The Israeli military said it had targeted and killed Al Jazeera’s Anas Al-Sharif, accusing him of being a Hamas cell leader involved in rocket attacks against Israel. Both Al Jazeera and Al-Sharif, before his death, rejected the allegations of any links to Hamas.

According to Gaza officials and Al Jazeera, the 28-year-old was among four network journalists and an assistant who died in an airstrike on a tent near Al-Shifa Hospital in eastern Gaza. A hospital official said two other people were also killed in the attack.

Al Jazeera described Al-Sharif as “one of Gaza’s bravest journalists” and called the strike “a desperate attempt to silence voices ahead of the occupation of Gaza.” The other journalists killed were Mohamed Qreiqa, Ibrahim Zaher, and Mohamed Noufal.

Al-Sharif had previously been part of a Reuters team that won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.

The Israeli army stated that Al-Sharif was responsible for launching rockets at Israeli civilians and forces, claiming to have intelligence and documents seized in Gaza as proof. These claims were dismissed by Al Jazeera and challenged by advocacy groups.

Press freedom organizations had earlier warned of threats to his life. In July, UN Special Rapporteur Irene Khan said Israel’s accusations were “baseless.”

Al Jazeera reported that Al-Sharif had left a message to be published upon his death: “I have never hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without falsification or distortion. May God bear witness to those who remained silent and to those who accepted our killing.”

In October, the Israeli military listed Al-Sharif among six Gaza journalists it alleged were members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad, citing documents purportedly showing they had undergone training and were receiving salaries. Al Jazeera denounced these allegations as “fabricated evidence.”

Sherif Mansour, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator, criticized “Israel’s pattern of labeling journalists as armed militants without providing credible evidence.”

Minutes before his death, Al-Sharif posted on X that Gaza had been under heavy bombardment for more than two hours. His account had over 500,000 followers.

Hamas said his killing could signal the start of a new Israeli offensive, adding: “The assassination of journalists and intimidation of those who remain paves the way for a major crime the occupation is planning to commit in Gaza.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would launch a new operation to seize control of Gaza and dismantle Hamas strongholds, as the hunger crisis deepens after nearly two years of war.

Al Jazeera stated: “Anas Al-Sharif and his colleagues were among the last voices left in Gaza to show the world its tragic reality.”

According to the Gaza Government Media Office, run by Hamas, 237 journalists have been killed since October 7, 2023. The Committee to Protect Journalists records at least 186 journalist deaths in the Gaza conflict.