Five Al Jazeera employees, described as among the “last remaining voices within Gaza”, were killed in an Israeli air strike on Sunday evening.
Correspondents Anas Al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, camera operators Ibrahim Zaher and Moamen Aliwa, and their assistant Mohammed Noufal, died after a strike on a tent near al Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
The Israeli military defended the targeted attack, asserting that the most prominent of the group, Al-Sharif, was the head of a Hamas terrorist cell and only “posed as a journalist” – claims consistently denied by Al-Sharif himself, Al Jazeera and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
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Al Jazeera called the killing a “targeted assassination” and described its employees as some of the “last remaining voices within Gaza”.
Here is everything you need to know about the news team and the fallout from the attack.
Who was Anas Al-Sharif?
The 28-year-old had become one of the most recognisable faces in Gaza due to his extensive reporting since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023.
Born in Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, Al-Sharif went on to study at al Aqsa University and graduated from the faculty of media, according to Al Jazeera. Before joining the Qatari-funded network, he is believed to have volunteered at the Al Shamal Media Network.
After the war broke out, Al-Sharif reported on daily life in Gaza amid airstrikes, hunger and the rubble of destroyed neighbourhoods. He remained largely in the north of Gaza, detailing the effects of Israel’s bombardment.
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In a broadcast in July, Al-Sharif was filmed crying on air as a woman behind him collapsed from hunger. He said at the time: “I am talking about [the] slow death of those people.”
His work gained him a huge presence on social media, with 1.6 million followers on Instagram and 562,000 on X. It also made him a recognisable figure to the many who watch Al Jazeera Arabic – which falls under the wider Al Jazeera media network.
Israel shut down the Al Jazeera television network in the country in May last year and claimed the news organisation had links to Hamas.
Al-Sharif was also part of a Reuters news agency team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2024 in the category of breaking news photography for their coverage of the Gaza conflict.
He is survived by his wife and two children, Salah and Sham.
Who were the other journalists?
Fellow Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, 33, was a native of Gaza City. He earned a degree in journalism and media from the Islamic University of Gaza and became known for his eloquent way of speaking, according to Al Jazeera.
Earlier in the war, he and Al-Sharif were separated from their families, the Associated Press reported.
When they managed to reunite during a brief ceasefire earlier this year, their children appeared unable to recognise them, according to video footage they posted at the time.
Camera operator Ibrahim Zaher, 25, was from the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, Al Jazeera reported, as was assistant Mohammed Noufal, 29.
The broadcaster does not say where cameraman Moamen Aliwa was born or his age.
Two other people, including freelance journalist Mohammad al Khaldi, were also killed in Sunday’s strike, officials at al Shifa Hospital told the Reuters news agency.
Al Jazeera reporter Hani Mahmoud, who is in Gaza, said everyone in the group worked “round the clock covering all of the horrific acts going on”.
He said it is “very difficult to imagine how the coverage will continue without them”.
As of 5 August, at least 186 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza, according to the CPJ. The death of Al-Sharif and his colleagues marks the first time during the war that Israel’s military has immediately claimed responsibility after a member of the press was killed in a strike.
In their statement confirming their role they repeated the claim that Al-Sharif was a member of Hamas.
It comes at a time when the foreign press is increasingly relying on Palestinian journalists, local reporters and humanitarian workers to provide details of what is going on inside the territory. Israel has mostly barred international media from entering Gaza since 2023.
Hamas, the militant group that runs Gaza, said the deadly strike may signal the start of an Israeli offensive.
Condemning the deaths of the journalists, the UN’s Human Rights Office accused Israel of a “grave breach of international humanitarian law”.
In a post on X it called on the country to “respect and protect all civilians, including journalists”.
The office also claimed the number of Palestinian journalists that have been killed in Gaza is at least 242, higher than the CPJ’s estimates.
‘Target of a smear campaign’
Al-Sharif’s death comes weeks after the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent non-profit, expressed “grave” concerns about his safety, and said that he was “being targeted by an Israeli military smear campaign”.
Last month, he also said he was living with the “feeling that I could be bombed and martyred at any moment” because his coverage of Israel’s operations “harms them and damages their image in the world”.
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In a post, labelled as Al-Sharif’s “last will and testament”, the journalist wrote: “If these words of mine reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.”
The post, which was published after his death, adds: “I never hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or misrepresentation, hoping that God would witness those who remained silent.”
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What has Israel said?
The IDF said on Sunday that it has intelligence and documents that prove Al-Sharif was a “Hamas operative”. The claims made no mention of the other journalists killed in Sunday’s strike.
In a statement it said: “Hamas terrorist Anas Al-Sharif, who posed as an Al Jazeera journalist, was the head of a Hamas terrorist cell and advanced rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and IDF troops.
“Intelligence and documents from Gaza, including rosters, terrorist training lists and salary records, prove he was a Hamas operative integrated into Al Jazeera.
“A press badge isn’t a shield for terrorism.”
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The claims are not new and were first published by the IDF in October 2024, when Al-Sharif was named alongside five other Al Jazeera journalists. The IDF said at the time it had found documents and computer files proving all the journalists had long-standing links to Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
Last year, Al Jazeera called the claims “baseless fabrication” and continued to reject the assertion after Al-Sharif’s death on Sunday.
Jodie Ginsberg, the chief executive of the CPJ, told Sky News Breakfast on Monday that Israel has never provided credible evidence to support their claims.
What has Al Jazeera said?
Condemning the killing of five of its employees, Al Jazeera said Israel’s actions are a “desperate attempt to silence the voices exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza”.
It called on the international community and all relevant organisations to “take decisive measures to halt this ongoing genocide and end the deliberate targeting of journalists”.
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Salah Negm, the director of news at Al Jazeera English, told Sky News Breakfast that the IDF statement was a “confession of guilt” and that it is targeting journalists for confirming what is happening in Gaza.
“We have always followed the highest security standards possible. But if a state and a complete army goes behind journalists because they are doing their jobs, there is not much that we can do,” he said.
“Of course we are afraid, but we know the price that’s being paid in order to put a free word and independent coverage to the rest of the world.”
