Israel kills five Al Jazeera journalists in targeted strike to silence Gaza coverage
By isabelle // 2025-08-11
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  • Israeli forces killed five Al Jazeera journalists, including Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqea, in a targeted strike on their press tent near Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital.
  • Israel baselessly accused al-Sharif of being a Hamas operative, while Al Jazeera condemned the attack as an effort to silence coverage of Gaza’s occupation.
  • The journalists were clearly marked as press, wearing vests and carrying cameras, when they were struck in an act the Committee to Protect Journalists called part of Israel’s long-standing pattern of killing reporters.
  • Before his death, al-Sharif posted a video condemning Israel’s bombardment, warning that Gaza would be erased if the world remained silent.
  • The UN and press freedom advocates denounced Israel’s actions, accusing it of systematically targeting journalists to conceal war crimes, with Western complicity enabling the violence.
Even amid all the horrors we've seen in the ongoing war against Hamas, Israel’s latest actions have stunned the world with their brutality: Israeli forces deliberately killed five Al Jazeera journalists, including prominent correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqea, in a strike on their tent outside Gaza's al-Shifa hospital late Sunday. The massacre came just hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defiantly dismissed international condemnation of Israel's plan to occupy Gaza, signaling a chilling escalation in the war against both Palestinian civilians and the truth itself. Al Jazeera condemned the attack as a "desperate attempt to silence voices exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza," while Israel offered only baseless accusations, claiming without evidence that al-Sharif was a Hamas operative. The truth, however, is undeniable: Israel is systematically exterminating journalists to conceal its war crimes from the world.

A calculated massacre of truth-tellers

The journalists (al-Sharif, Qreiqea, cameramen Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal, and assistant Moamen Aliwa) were stationed in a clearly marked press tent when an Israeli strike obliterated them. These were not combatants. They were unarmed reporters documenting the horrors of Israel's genocide, wearing press vests and carrying cameras, not weapons. Moments before his murder, al-Sharif posted a video on social media capturing Israel's relentless bombardment of Gaza City. His final words were a haunting indictment: "If this madness does not end, Gaza will be reduced to ruins, its people's voices silenced, their faces erased. History will remember you as silent witnesses to a genocide you chose not to stop." Israel's military later claimed, without providing a shred of proof, that al-Sharif was a "Hamas terrorist." This is the same regime that has killed 186 journalists since October 2023, nearly all of them Palestinians. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called the attack part of a "decades-long practice in which Israel kills journalists" and then smears them posthumously.

A horrifying pattern of silencing dissent

This was no accident. Israel has long waged war on the free press, barring international journalists from Gaza while targeting local reporters who dare to expose its atrocities. Just last month, Israeli military spokesperson Avichai Adraee posted a threatening video singling out al-Sharif, foreshadowing his assassination. Al Jazeera's managing editor, Mohamed Moawad, told the press: "They were targeted in their tent, they weren't covering from the front line… The Israeli government is wanting to silence the coverage of any channel of reporting from inside Gaza." The UN's special rapporteur on free expression, Irene Khan, condemned Israel's "unsubstantiated claims" against al-Sharif as a "blatant assault on journalists." But words alone won't stop the bloodshed. Israel's impunity is enabled by Western governments, particularly the U.S., which continue to fund and arm this genocide while feigning concern for press freedom.

A final message of defiance

In a pre-written will shared posthumously, al-Sharif left a powerful testament to his mission: "I never once hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification… Allah may bear witness against those who stayed silent, those who accepted our killing." He urged the world not to forget Gaza in a plea that grows more urgent as Israel escalates its slaughter. The timing of this massacre is no coincidence. Just days earlier, Netanyahu's security cabinet approved plans to forcibly occupy Gaza City, displacing nearly a million Palestinians. Killing journalists ensures there will be no witnesses to the ethnic cleansing to come. Israel's war on journalism is a war on truth itself. The assassination of al-Sharif and his colleagues is not just a tragedy but a crime against humanity, one that demands immediate accountability. If the international community continues to look away, Gaza's last remaining voices will be extinguished, and history will judge us all as complicit in their silence. Sources for this article include: MiddleEastEye.net BBC.co.uk CNN.com AlJazeera.com
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