Un media groups condemn israel’s fatal strike on al jazeera’s news team

Un media groups condemn israel’s fatal strike on al jazeera’s news team

Anas al-Sharif was one of Al Jazeera’s most recognisable faces working on the ground in Gaza, providing daily reports on the now 22-month-old war; the network called the attack ‘a desperate attempt to silence voices exposing Israel’s occupation.’

Condemnations poured in from the UN and media rights groups on Monday after an Israeli strike killed an Al Jazeera news team in Gaza, as Palestinians mourned the journalists and Israel accused one of them of being a Hamas militant. Dozens of Gazans stood amid bombed-out buildings in the courtyard of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City to pay their respects to Anas al-Sharif, a prominent Al Jazeera correspondent aged 28, and four of his colleagues killed on Sunday.

Hospital director Mohammed Abu Salmiya said a sixth journalist, freelance reporter Mohammed Al-Khaldi, was killed in the strike that targeted the Al Jazeera team. Israel confirmed it had targeted Sharif, whom it labelled a “terrorist” affiliated with Hamas, alleging he “posed as a journalist”.

Al Jazeera said four other employees — correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa — were killed when the strike hit a tent set up for journalists outside the main gate of Al-Shifa.

According to local journalists who knew him, Sharif had worked at the start of his career with a Hamas communication office, where his role was to publicise events organised by the group that has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2006.

Sharif was one of the Al Jazeera’s most recognisable faces working on the ground in Gaza, providing daily reports on the now 22-month-old war.

Media freedom groups have condemned the Israeli strike on journalists, which the UN human rights agency called a “grave breach of international humanitarian law”.

A posthumous message, written by Sharif in April in case of his death, was published online saying he had been silenced and urging people “not to forget Gaza”.

Al Jazeera called the attack “a desperate attempt to silence voices exposing the Israeli occupation”, as it described Sharif as “one of Gaza's bravest journalists”.

Reporters Without Borders says nearly 200 journalists have been killed in the war.