Who was Anas Al Sharif, the Al Jazeera journalist killed in Israeli strike? IDF calls him ‘Hamas cell leader’

Four Al Jazeera journalists, including its senior correspondent Anas Al Sharif, and an assistant were killed in an Israeli strike on a tent near Shifa Hospital in eastern Gaza City on Sunday.

 

Israel’s military claimed that Al Sharif, 28, was a Hamas cell leader posing as a journalist, even though right advocates have dismissed this claim.

 

“Al Sharif was the head of a Hamas cell and was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF (Israeli) troops,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

 

It said intelligence and documents from Gaza, including rosters, terrorist training lists and salary records, proved that Al Sharif was a Hamas operative integrated into Al Jazeera. 

 

"A press badge isn’t a shield for terrorism," the IDF said in a post on X.

 

The other slain journalists were identified as Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufa, reported Reuters.

 

Al Jazeera has denounced the killings and termed the Israeli strike a “desperate attempt to silence voices in anticipation of the occupation of Gaza".

 

Calling Al Sharif a “brave journalist”, the broadcaster released a social media message to be posted in the event of his death that read: "...I never hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or misrepresentation, hoping that God would witness those who remained silent."

 

In a statement, the channel lamented that Al Sharif and his colleagues were among the last remaining voices in Gaza conveying the tragic reality to the world.

 

"While vehemently condemning these heinous crimes and the ongoing attempts by Israeli authorities to silence the truth, Al Jazeera Media Network calls on the international community and all relevant organisations to take decisive measures to halt this ongoing genocide and end the deliberate targeting of journalists," it said.

 

The Committee to Protect Journalists, a press freedom group, had earlier warned that Al Sharif's life was in danger due to his front-line reporting on the Gaza war. On Sunday, the panel said Israel had failed to provide any evidence to back up its allegations against the journalist.

 

According to the CPJ, at least 186 journalists have been killed in the Gaza conflict, while the media office of the Gaza government claimed the toll is 237.

Middle East