Al Jazeera confirmed the deaths of al-Sharif and fellow correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, as well as cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa.
Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif was killed late Sunday evening in an Israeli strike on Gaza City, alongside four of his colleagues. The deadly assault struck a tent for journalists stationed outside the main gate of al-Shifa Hospital, claiming seven lives in total. Al Jazeera confirmed the deaths of al-Sharif and fellow correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, as well as cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa. In a statement, the broadcaster denounced the strike as a “blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom”, hailing al-Sharif as “one of Gaza’s bravest journalists” who had reported relentlessly from the front lines since the outbreak of war.
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Al Jazeera Journalist’s “Final Message” Before Being Killed In Gaza Strike
Moments before the fatal blast, al-Sharif posted on X warning of “intense, concentrated Israeli bombardment” across Gaza City. In a chilling farewell message written months earlier for the event of his death, he declared he had “never hesitated to convey the truth” despite enduring “pain, grief and loss repeatedly.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it was “appalled” by the killings, cautioning against a troubling pattern where Israel brands journalists as militants without furnishing credible proof. The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate condemned the attack as a “bloody crime” and a targeted assassination.
Who Was Anas al-Sharif?
Anas al-Sharif, 28, was a distinguished Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent and a familiar voice chronicling the devastation in Gaza. Married with two young children, he had refused to abandon northern Gaza even after his father was killed in an Israeli strike in December 2023. His work often captured the aftermath of relentless bombardments, bearing witness to the war’s darkest chapters.
Only last month, al-Sharif confided to CPJ that he feared being “bombed and martyred at any moment” after an Israeli military spokesperson publicly accused him of being a Hamas member — a claim dismissed by the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression as “unsubstantiated” and a “blatant assault on journalists.”
“They were targeted in their tent; they weren’t covering from the front line,” Al Jazeera’s managing editor Mohamed Moawad told the BBC, underscoring the vulnerability of journalists in conflict zones.
What IDF Claimed?
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed responsibility for the strike, alleging that al-Sharif “posed as a journalist” while leading a Hamas cell orchestrating rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers. The IDF claimed that documents seized in Gaza — including training records, personnel rosters, and salary logs — established his Hamas affiliation. It asserted that the operation employed precision weaponry, aerial surveillance, and intelligence to minimise civilian casualties.
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Al Jazeera and press freedom organisations have fiercely rejected these allegations, accusing Israel of attempting to legitimise the killing of journalists and silence vital reporting from inside Gaza.