A prominent Al Jazeera journalist was killed in an airstrike alongside four of his colleagues as Israel’s military accused him of posing as a reporter to run a Hamas terrorist cell.
Anas Al Sharif, a 28-year-old correspondent, was among those killed Sunday when the strikes hit a tent near Al Shifa Hospital in eastern Gaza City, Gaza officials and Al Jazeera confirmed.
“Al-Sharif was the head of a Hamas terrorist cell and advanced rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and IDF troops,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said, calling him a “terrorist” who “posed as an Al Jazeera journalist.”
“Intelligence and documents from Gaza, including rosters, terrorist training lists and salary records, prove he was a Hamas operative integrated into Al Jazeera,” the IDF said.
“A press badge isn’t a shield for terrorism.”
Before his death, Al-Sharif had denied ties to Hamas, as had his network.
Al Jazeera called the airstrikes a “targeted assassination” and accused Israeli officials of incitement.
Calling Al Sharif “one of Gaza’s bravest journalists,” Al Jazeera blasted the attack as a “desperate attempt to silence voices in anticipation of the occupation of Gaza.”
“Anas and his colleagues were among the last remaining voices from within Gaza, providing the world with unfiltered, on-the-ground coverage of the devastating realities endured by its people,” the Qatari network said in a statement.
The network said Al Sharif had left a social media message to be posted in the event of his death that read, “I never hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or misrepresentation, hoping that God would witness those who remained silent.”
Al Sharif, who boasted more than 500,000 followers on X, had been posting on social media just minutes before his death – saying that Israel had been intensely bombarding Gaza City for more than two hours.
In the wake of his death, Hamas said the latest strikes may signal the start of an Israeli offensive.
“The assassination of journalists and the intimidation of those who remain paves the way for a major crime that the occupation is planning to commit in Gaza City,” the terror group said in a statement.
Al Sharif began reporting for Al Jazeera a few days after war broke out and his coverage repeatedly went viral.
In January, he whipped off his press vest and helmet following news of a cease-fire. Al Sharif cried on air in July, too, as woman behind him collapsed from hunger.
“I am taking about slow death of those people,” he said at the time.
Meanwhile, the Committee to Protect Journalists, which in July urged the international community to protect Al Sharif, said Israel had failed to provide any evidence to back up its allegations against him.
“Israel’s pattern of labeling journalists as militants without providing credible evidence raises serious questions about its intent and respect for press freedom,” Sara Qudah, CPJ’s director for the Middle East and North Africa, said.
With Post wires
