{"id":2167,"date":"2025-08-11T14:36:31","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T14:36:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/08\/11\/israel-kills-anas-al-sharif-and-four-al-jazeera-staff-in-gaza-what-we-know\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T14:36:31","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T14:36:31","slug":"israel-kills-anas-al-sharif-and-four-al-jazeera-staff-in-gaza-what-we-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/08\/11\/israel-kills-anas-al-sharif-and-four-al-jazeera-staff-in-gaza-what-we-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel kills Anas al-Sharif and four Al Jazeera staff in Gaza: What we know"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Late on Sunday, an Israeli strike shook al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, targeting a journalists\u2019 tent by the gate.<\/p>\n

As people rushed to help, it became apparent that five Al Jazeera staff had been killed, including Anas al-Sharif, one of the most famous faces of Arabic reporting from Gaza.<\/p>\n

Why did Israel want to kill journalists? What happened that night? Here\u2019s what we know:<\/p>\n

Who were the five Al Jazeera staff Israel killed?<\/h2>\n

Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, 28, was one of Gaza\u2019s most recognisable faces for his constant reporting of the reality on the ground over the last 22 months. The father of two was born in Jabalia refugee camp and graduated from Al-Aqsa University\u2019s Faculty of Media. His father was killed by Israel in an air strike on the family home in December 2023.<\/p>\n

Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, 33, made his last live report on air<\/a> only shortly before his assassination, speaking in his trademark eloquent manner. Qreiqeh was born in Gaza City in 1992 and lived in the Shujayea neighbourhood. He earned a BA in journalism and media at the Islamic University of Gaza. Israel killed his brother, Karim, in March in an air attack on Gaza City.<\/p>\n

\"INTERACTIVE<\/p>\n

Al Jazeera cameraman Ibrahim Zaher, 25, was from Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.<\/p>\n

Al Jazeera cameraman Mohammed Noufal, 29, was also from Jabalia. He lost his mother and one brother in earlier Israeli attacks. His other brother, Ibrahim, also works as a cameraman for Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

What were they doing when they were killed?<\/h2>\n

They were working.<\/p>\n

The team was in a tent by the main gate of Gaza City\u2019s al-Shifa Hospital late on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n

The tent was where they worked, as journalists in Gaza have gathered at hospitals to seek better electricity and internet connections, a fact that has been well-known since the start of Israel\u2019s war on Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not far from al-Shifa Hospital, just one block away, and I could hear the massive explosion that took place in the past half an hour or so, near al-Shifa Hospital,\u201d Al Jazeera\u2019s Hani Mahmoud reported yesterday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could see it when it lit up the sky and, within moments, the news circulated that it was the journalist camp at the main gate of the al-Shifa Hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

What happened?<\/h2>\n

Al Jazeera\u2019s reporter Hani al-Shaer said an Israeli drone hit the journalists\u2019 tent at approximately 11:35pm (20:35 GMT) on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

Shortly before being killed, al-Sharif wrote on X that Israel had launched intense, concentrated bombardment \u2013 also known as \u201cfire belts\u201d \u2013 on the eastern and southern parts of Gaza City.<\/p>\n

Journalist Amer al-Sultan was in a neighbouring tent when the attack took place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came to the scene and saw all the destruction,\u201d al-Sultan told Al Jazeera Mubasher, standing amid the tent\u2019s wreckage, his back to a concrete wall pocked and splattered from the attack. \u201c[I thought] all our colleagues were martyred.\u201d<\/p>\n

Al-Sultan added that he wasn\u2019t sure who the journalists were who were in the tent, but \u201cwhen I started filming, I saw our colleagues Anas al-Sharif was on the ground and Mohammed Qreiqeh, who was on fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started to pull him out and try to put out the fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

The people gathered there tried to get Qreiqeh inside al-Shifa Hospital, but he succumbed to his wounds before they could get him treatment, al-Sultan said.<\/p>\n

Mohammed Qeita, a freelance journalist, was also nearby.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was not just a witness to the event, I was part of it\u2026The fire was very strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven now, I can\u2019t believe it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew Anas was the target\u2026 He was our voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

How did Israel explain deliberately killing journalists?<\/h2>\n

It said one of them wasn\u2019t really a journalist.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s army posted about deliberately killing the journalists, claiming it had wanted to kill al-Sharif, who it accused of being an armed commander for Hamas only posing as a journalist.<\/p>\n

In the statement, it accused al-Sharif of \u201cadvancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and troops\u201d and alleged it had documents providing \u201cunequivocal proof\u201d of this.<\/p>\n

Muhammad Shehada, an analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said there was \u201czero evidence\u201d that al-Sharif took part in any hostilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis entire daily routine was standing in front of a camera from morning to evening,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

On numerous occasions over the last 22 months, Israel has justified killing reporters by claiming they belonged to armed groups. Groups focused on press freedom and media workers\u2019 rights have said for months that Israel is deliberately targeting journalists in Gaza<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Two of the most prominent incidents included journalist Hamza Dahdouh<\/a>, son of Al Jazeera\u2019s Gaza Bureau Chief Wael Dahdouh, and journalist Hossam Shabat<\/a>, who were both assassinated by Israel and accused of being members of Hamas without any evidence.<\/p>\n

What did Al Jazeera say?<\/h2>\n

Al Jazeera called the killing of its staff a \u201ctargeted assassination \u2026 in yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom\u201d.<\/p>\n

It said the journalists \u201cwere 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\u201d.<\/p>\n

Israel has banned international media from entering Gaza since October 2023, but \u201cAl Jazeera journalists remained within besieged Gaza \u2026 [delivering] searing eyewitness accounts of the horrors unleashed over 22 months of relentless bombing and destruction,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

Why did Israel want to assassinate Anas al-Sharif?<\/h2>\n

Al-Sharif was the face of Al Jazeera Arabic in Gaza and of iconic moments as he reported on Israel\u2019s atrocities in the besieged, bombarded enclave.<\/p>\n

For months, Israeli officials had threatened him, demanding that he stop reporting, but he refused, pledging to stay in northern Gaza and continue his coverage.<\/p>\n

Numerous rights groups and press freedom groups called for al-Sharif\u2019s protection after he was directly threatened by Israel.<\/p>\n

Israel ramped up a smear campaign on al-Sharif in recent months, with army spokesperson Avichay Adraee calling out al-Sharif by name in a video on X last month, accusing him of being part of Hamas\u2019s military wing.<\/p>\n

\"INTERACTIVE_Journalists_killed_Gaza_Israel_war_August11_2025-1754903798\"
(Al Jazeera)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Irene Khan, UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression, said last month that Adraee made \u201can unsubstantiated claim\u201d and called the smear a \u201cblatant assault on journalists\u201d.<\/p>\n

Israel killing al-Sharif was a targeted attempt to shut down coverage of its atrocities, former Executive Director of Human Rights Watch Ken Roth said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not an accidental killing. This is not a journalist who happened to get caught in Israel\u2019s indiscriminate bombardment of Palestinian civilians in general.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a targeted killing,\u201d Roth told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

Authorities in Gaza say Israel has killed nearly 270<\/a> journalists and media workers since it launched its war on Gaza.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Late on Sunday, an Israeli strike shook al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, targeting a journalists\u2019 tent by the gate. As people rushed to help, it became apparent that five Al Jazeera staff had been killed, including Anas al-Sharif, one of the most famous faces of Arabic reporting from Gaza. Why did Israel want to kill … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}