An Israeli army spokesperson asserted on Monday that the prominent Al Jazeera journalist it killed a day earlier was an lively Hamas member who obtained a wage from the phobia group, because the worldwide outcry mounted over the Gaza Metropolis strike that additionally took the lives of 5 different reporters.
“Previous to the strike, we obtained present intelligence indicating that [Anas] al-Sharif was an lively Hamas army wing operative on the time of his elimination. As well as, he obtained a wage from the Hamas terror group and terrorist supporters, Al-Jazeera, on the similar time,” IDF worldwide spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani mentioned on X.
The IDF mentioned that Sharif was “the pinnacle of a Hamas terrorist cell and superior rocket assaults on Israeli civilians and IDF troops.
“Intelligence and paperwork from Gaza, together with rosters, terrorist coaching lists and wage data, show he was a Hamas operative built-in into Al Jazeera,” it mentioned, alongside a screenshot of related paperwork.
The paperwork, revealed by the IDF in October, confirmed that Sharif joined Hamas’s army wing on December 3, 2013, the place he served as a commander of a rocket-launching squad in northern Gaza. He was licensed because the workforce commander on January 1, 2019, in accordance with the paperwork.
The paperwork additionally listed Sharif’s army ID quantity as 305342.
On April 7, 2017, Sharif was wounded in his eye and suffered listening to loss throughout Hamas coaching, although he continued to stay within the group on a $200 a month wage, in accordance with a 2023 doc revealed by the army.
A separate, undated doc confirmed that Sharif’s title was on the interior telephone registry of the elite Nukhba Drive firm in Hamas’s East Jabalia Battalion. A codename for Sharif can be listed within the listing.
Terrorists of the Nukhba Drive led the preliminary waves of assaults on southern Israel throughout the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught.
The army didn’t touch upon the affiliation of the opposite 5 journalists who had been killed within the strike on a tent close to Gaza Metropolis’s Shifa Hospital, together with Sharif.
Earlier Monday, the European Union joined the refrain of worldwide condemnations of the strike, with the bloc’s overseas coverage chief Kaja Kallas calling on Israel to offer “clear proof” of its declare relating to the affiliation of the journalists it focused.
Palestinians verify the destroyed Al Jazeera tent at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza Metropolis on August 11, 2025, following an in a single day strike by the Israeli army. (Photograph by BASHAR TALEB / AFP)
In his Monday publish, Shoshani wrote that the paperwork the military revealed in October are “solely a small, declassified portion of our intelligence on al-Sharif main as much as the strike.”
“This info was obtained throughout floor operations in Gaza at two separate areas,” he added.
United Nations Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres known as for an “impartial and neutral investigation into these newest killings,” mentioned UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
“A minimum of 242 journalists have been killed in Gaza for the reason that struggle started. Journalists and media employees have to be revered, they have to be protected, they usually have to be allowed to hold out their work freely, free from worry and free from harassment,” he added.
International locations and worldwide organizations accused Israel of repeatedly concentrating on journalists after the Sunday strike. Al Jazeera mentioned the assault killed its correspondents Sharif and Mohammed Qraiqea together with cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Moamen Aliwa and Mohammed Noufal. Freelancer Mohammad al-Khaldi was additionally with the group and misplaced his life within the strike.
Protesters maintain footage and indicators denouncing the killing of Al Jazeera journalists throughout a vigil in Ramallah on August 11, 2025. (Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
The IDF on Sunday confirmed finishing up a strike, saying Sharif was a “terrorist working below the guise of a journalist.”
Al Jazeera has fiercely denied Israel’s allegations and accused it of systematically concentrating on Al Jazeera workers within the Gaza Strip.
A posthumous message, written in April in case of his dying, was revealed on Sharif’s account on Monday morning, saying he had been silenced and urging individuals “to not neglect Gaza.”
The Sunday strike got here days after Israel accepted a plan to totally conquer Gaza Metropolis and relocate southward round 1 million Palestinians at the moment staying there, drawing worldwide outcry, together with from its closest allies.
Whereas Israel has repeatedly chastised worldwide media for counting on info popping out of Hamas-controlled Gaza, it has barred journalists from coming into the Strip for the reason that begin of the struggle, besides on occasional, tightly managed journeys with the army.
