Israeli strike kills Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif

[ad_1] JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s army focused an Al Jazeera correspondent with an airstrike Sunday, killing him, one other community journalist and no less than six different individuals, all of whom have been sheltering exterior Gaza Metropolis’s largest hospital complicated.

Officers at Shifa Hospital mentioned these killed included Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohamed Qreiqeh. The strike additionally killed 4 different journalists and two different individuals, hospital administrative director Rami Mohanna advised The Related Press. The strike additionally broken the doorway to the hospital complicated’s emergency constructing.

Each Israel and hospital officers in Gaza Metropolis confirmed the deaths, which press advocates described as retribution against those documenting the war in Gaza . Israel’s army later Sunday described al-Sharif because the chief of a Hamas cell — an allegation that Al Jazeera and al-Sharif had previously dismissed as baseless .

The incident marked the primary time through the conflict that Israel’s army has swiftly claimed accountability after a journalist was killed in a strike.

It got here lower than a 12 months after Israeli military officers first accused al-Sharif and different Al Jazeera journalists of being members of the militant teams Hamas and Islamic Jihad. In a July 24 video, Israel’s military spokesperson Avichay Adraee attacked Al Jazeera and accused al-Sharif of being a part of Hamas’ army wing.

Palestinians examine the destroyed tent the place journalists, together with Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohamed Qureiqa, have been killed by an Israeli airstrike exterior the Gaza Metropolis’s Shifa hospital complicated Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (AP Picture/Jehad Alshrafi)

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Al Jazeera calls strike ‘assassination’ Al Jazeera referred to as the strike “focused assassination” and accused Israeli officers of incitement, connecting al-Sharif’s demise to the allegations that each the community and correspondent had denied.

“Anas and his colleagues have been among the many final remaining voices from inside Gaza, offering the world with unfiltered, on-the-ground protection of the devastating realities endured by its individuals,” the Qatari community mentioned in a press release.

Colleagues and associates mourn over the physique Al Jazeera correspondent Mohamed Qureiqa who was killed along with his colleague Anas al-Sharif and different journalists by an Israeli airstrike, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza Metropolis Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (AP Picture/Jehad Alshrafi)

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Aside from uncommon invites to watch Israeli army operations, worldwide media have been barred from getting into Gaza at some point of the conflict. Al Jazeera is among the many few retailers nonetheless fielding a giant group of reporters contained in the besieged strip, chronicling every day life amid airstrikes, starvation and the rubble of destroyed neighborhoods.

The community has suffered heavy losses through the conflict, together with 27-year-old correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul and cameraman Rami al-Rifi, killed final summer time, and freelancer Hossam Shabat, killed in an Israeli airstrike in March.

Like al-Sharif, Shabat was among the many six that Israel accused of being members of militant teams final October.

Funeral-goers name to guard journalists A whole lot of individuals, together with many journalists, gathered Monday to mourn al-Sharif, Qureiqa and their colleagues. The our bodies lay wrapped in white sheets at Gaza Metropolis’s Shifa Hospital complicated. Ahed Ferwana of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate mentioned reporters have been being intentionally focused and urged the worldwide group to behave.

Palestinians carry the physique of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, who, together with different journalists, was killed in an Israeli airstrike, throughout his funeral exterior Gaza Metropolis’s Shifa hospital complicated, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (AP Picture/Jehad Alshrafi)

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Al-Sharif reported a close-by bombardment minutes earlier than his demise. In a social media put up that Al Jazeera mentioned was written to be posted in case of his demise, he bemoaned the devastation and destruction that conflict had wrought and bid farewell to his spouse, son and daughter.

“I by no means hesitated for a single day to convey the reality as it's, with out distortion or falsification,” the 28-year-old wrote.

The journalists are the latest to be killed in what observers have referred to as the deadliest battle for journalists in trendy instances. The Committee to Shield Journalists mentioned on Sunday that no less than 186 have been killed in Gaza, and Brown College’s Watson Institute in April mentioned the conflict was “fairly merely, the worst ever battle for reporters.”

Al-Sharif started reporting for Al Jazeera a couple of days after conflict broke out. He was identified for reporting on Israel’s bombardment in northern Gaza, and later for the hunger gripping a lot of the territory’s inhabitants. Qureiqa, a 33-year-old Gaza Metropolis native, is survived by two kids.

Each journalists have been separated from their households for months earlier within the conflict. After they managed to reunite through the ceasefire earlier this 12 months, their kids appeared unable to acknowledge them, in line with video footage they posted on the time.

In a July broadcast al-Sharif cried on air as girl behind him collapsed from starvation.

“I'm taking about sluggish demise of these individuals,” he mentioned on the time.

Al Jazeera is blocked in Israel and troopers raided its workplaces within the occupied West Financial institution final 12 months, ordering them closed.

CORRECTS SURNAME TO QREIQEH, INSTEAD OF QUREIQA - Palestinians pray over the our bodies of journalists, together with Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohamed Qreiqeh, who have been killed in an Israeli airstrike, throughout their funeral exterior Gaza Metropolis’s Shifa hospital complicated, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (AP Picture/Jehad Alshrafi)

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Al-Sharif’s demise comes weeks after a U.N. knowledgeable and the New York-based Committee to Shield Journalists mentioned Israel had focused him with a smear marketing campaign.

Irene Khan, the U.N. Particular Rapporteur on freedom of expression, on July 31 mentioned that the killings have been “a part of a deliberate technique of Israel to suppress the reality, impede the documentation of worldwide crimes and bury any risk of future accountability.”

The Committee to Shield Journalists mentioned on Sunday that it was appalled by the strike.

“Israel’s sample of labeling journalists as militants with out offering credible proof raises severe questions on its intent and respect for press freedom,” Sara Qudah, the group’s regional director, mentioned in a press release.

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Magdy reported from Cairo.

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This story has been corrected to vary the identify of the second journalist to Qreiqeh.

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