FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
IDF admits attack on journalist, one of Al Jazeera's most prominent names
A prominent Al Jazeera journalist, who had previously been threatened by Israel, has been killed along with four of his colleagues in an Israeli airstrike.
Anas al-Sharif, who was one of Al Jazeera's most well-known names in Gaza, was killed while inside a tent for journalists outside al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Sunday evening.
The attack killed seven people, including Al Jazeera correspondent al-Sharif. Also killed were Mohammed Qreiqeh and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa, according to the Qatar-based broadcaster.
The Israel Defense Forces admitted the attack, claiming that the journalist had "served as the head of a terrorist cell in the Hamas terrorist organization and was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF forces."
The IDF claimed to have information and documents found in Gaza as evidence, but human rights defenders said he was targeted for his frontline reporting on the war in Gaza and that Israel's claim lacked evidence.
Calling al-Sharif "one of Gaza's most courageous journalists", Al Jazeera said the attack was "a desperate attempt to silence voices awaiting the occupation of Gaza".
Last month, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Avichai Adraee shared a video of al-Sharif in X and accused him of being a member of Hamas's military wing. At the time, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression Irene Khan called it "an unfounded allegation" and a "blatant attack on journalists."
In July, al-Sharif told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that he lived with "the feeling that he could be bombed and martyred at any moment."
After the attack, CPJ said it was "horrified" to learn of the journalists' deaths.
"Israel's pattern of labeling journalists as militants without providing credible evidence raises serious questions about its intent and respect for press freedom," said CPJ regional director Sara Qudah, adding that "journalists are civilians and should never be targeted. Those responsible for these killings must be held accountable."
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate condemned what it described as a "bloody crime" of murder.
In January of this year, following a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, al-Sharif attracted widespread attention when, during a live broadcast, he removed his protective vest while surrounded by dozens of Gazans celebrating the temporary cessation of hostilities.
Minutes before his death, al-Sharif posted on X: “Breaking news: Intense and concentrated Israeli bombardments using ‘belts of fire’ are hitting the eastern and southern areas of Gaza City.”
In a final message, which Al Jazeera said was written on April 6 and which was posted on al-Sharif's X account after his death, the journalist said he had "experienced pain in all its details, tasted suffering and loss many times, yet I never hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification."
"May Allah bear witness against those who remained silent, those who accepted our killing, those who took our breath away and whose hearts were not touched by the scattered remains of our children and women, doing nothing to stop the massacre that our people have faced for more than a year and a half," he continued.
The 28-year-old leaves behind a wife and two young children. His father was killed in an Israeli strike on the family home in the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza City in December 2023. At the time, al-Sharif said he would continue reporting and refused to leave northern Gaza.
Another Al Jazeera journalist in Gaza, Hani Mahmoud, said that “this is probably the most difficult thing I have been reporting on in the last 22 months. I am not far from al-Shifa hospital, just a block away, and I could hear the massive explosion that happened in the last half, near al-Shifa hospital.”
"I could see it when it lit up the sky and, within moments, word spread that it was the journalists' camp at the main gate of al-Shifa hospital."
Al-Sharif and his colleagues have been reporting from Gaza since the beginning of the conflict.
"It is important to note that this attack comes just a week after an Israeli military official directly accused Anas and directly led a campaign of incitement at Al Jazeera and its correspondents on the ground because of their work, because of their relentless reporting on hunger, starvation and malnutrition," Mahmoud added.
Israel has killed several Al Jazeera journalists and their family members, including Hossam Shabat, who was killed in March, and Ismail al-Ghoul and his cameraman Rami al-Rifi, who were killed in August.
The wife, son, daughter and nephew of chief correspondent Wael al Dahdouh were killed in October 2023, and he himself was injured in an attack a few weeks later that killed Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa.
Israel, which does not allow foreign journalists into Gaza and has targeted local journalists, has killed 237 journalists since the war began on October 7, 2023, according to the Gaza government media office. The Committee to Protect Journalists said at least 186 journalists have been killed in the Gaza conflict. Israel denies deliberately targeting journalists. /Adapted from The Guardian/
Lini një Përgjigje