Anas al-Sharif, other Al Jazeera journalists killed as Israel attacks Gaza — here’s what to know
Wreckage of Al Jazeera’s media tent outside Al-Shifa Hospital after Israeli airstrike that killed five journalists.
An Israeli airstrike outside Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital has killed five Al Jazeera journalists, in what the network is calling a deliberate attack on the press.
The journalists — reporters Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa — were working from a media tent stationed at the hospital’s main gate when the strike hit. Seven people in total lost their lives.
Al Jazeera condemned the strike as a “blatant and premeditated assault on press freedom,” rejecting Israeli claims that al-Sharif was a senior Hamas operative directing rocket fire at Israel. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed he was their intended target but did not acknowledge the deaths of the other journalists.
The network’s managing editor, Mohamed Moawad, said al-Sharif was a credentialed journalist and “a vital voice” reporting from inside the besieged enclave. He noted that the team had been operating far from active combat zones, suggesting they were intentionally targeted.
Access for foreign reporters has been blocked throughout the war, leaving much of the outside world reliant on Gaza-based journalists for on-the-ground coverage.
In the minutes before the strike, al-Sharif, 28, appeared to post on social media about intense Israeli bombardment in Gaza City. A final message published afterward is believed to have been scheduled in advance or posted by a colleague. Video verified by the BBC shows rescuers pulling bodies from the wreckage of the tent, now reduced to twisted poles and rubble, with a nearby vehicle left mangled by the blast.
The strike has reignited concerns over journalist safety in Gaza. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Israel has a long-standing pattern of labeling journalists as militants posthumously, without providing evidence. Both CPJ and the United Nations had warned last month that al-Sharif’s life was in danger, urging Israel to ensure his protection.
This is not the first deadly attack on Al Jazeera staff during the conflict. In August 2024, reporter Ismael Al-Ghoul and cameraman Rami al-Rifi were killed in an Israeli strike, alongside a young bystander. Allegations of Hamas ties were again rejected by the network.
According to CPJ figures, at least 186 journalists have been killed in Gaza since Israel’s military campaign began in October 2023, following Hamas’s October 7 attacks that left about 1,200 Israelis dead and more than 250 taken hostage. Gaza’s health ministry says more than 61,000 Palestinians have since been killed.
Journalists who remain face not only bombardment but also severe hunger. Major news agencies, including the BBC, Reuters, AP, and AFP, have warned that many Gaza-based reporters are struggling to find food, with some collapsing while working. Aid groups warn of mass starvation, while Israel accuses humanitarian organisations of echoing Hamas propaganda.
