Opinion...
Slaying and censoring the journalists: The murder of Anas al-Sharif
Al-Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif reports near the Arab Ahli (Baptist) Hospital in Gaza City on October 10, 2024. [AFP via Getty Images]
by Dr Binoy Kampmark
August 12, 2025
“Assassination,” wrote George Bernard Shaw in The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet, “is the extreme form of censorship”. Such extremism visited Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif and his colleagues in Gaza City late on 10 August. Resting in a tent located outside the main gate of Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital, he was killed alongside Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa, and freelance reporter Mohammed al-Khaldi.
Palestinian journalist Wadi Abu al-Saud recalls the drone attack taking place at 11.22pm. Having entered the tent opposite, he had raised his phone to make a call when an explosion occurred. “A piece of shrapnel hit my phone. I looked back and saw people burning in flames. I tried to extinguish them. Anas and the others had died instantly from the airstrike.” In two subsequent videos, al-Saud vows to “return to my life as a citizen. The truth has died and the coverage has ended.”
IDF international spokesman Lt. Colonel Nadav Shoshani, straining verisimilitude, claimed that intelligence obtained prior to the strike proved that “Sharif was an active Hamas military wing operative at the time of his elimination”. The reporter must have been frightfully busy then, able to juggle his tasks with Al Jazeera, filing news bulletins while playing the ambitious militant. But distinctions are meaningless for Shoshani, who went on to accuse the slain journalist of receiving “a salary from the Hamas terror group and terrorist supporters, Al-Jazeera, at the same time.”
READ: Death toll of Palestinian journalists rises to 238 as another reporter dies after Israeli strike on Gaza
Evidence is typically sketchy, but the Lt. Colonel was untroubled, as the “declassified portion of our intelligence on al-Sharif” was merely small relative to the whole picture. That picture, the IDF contends, revealed Sharif’s credentials as leader of a rocket-launching squad alongside membership of the Nukhba Force company in Hamas’s East Jabalia Battalion. This proved far from convincing to Muhammed Shehada, analyst at the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, who made the solid, pertinent observation that al-Sharif’s “entire daily routine was standing in front of a camera from morning to evening.”
Particularly troubling in this killing is that the IDF seemed to be laying the groundwork for justified assassination last month, when army spokesman Avichai Adraee reshared a video on social media making the accusation that al-Sharif was a member of Hamas’s military wing. This proved chilling for the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of expression, Irene Khan. “Fears for al-Sharif’s safety are well-founded as there is growing evidence that journalists in Gaza have been targeted and killed by the Israeli army on the basis of unsubstantiated claims that they are Hamas terrorists.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists was suitably perturbed by Adraee’s remarks to issue a demand last month that the “international community” protect al-Sharif. “This is not the first time Al-Sharif has been targeted by the Israeli military, but the danger to his life is now acute,” said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah. “Israel has killed at least six Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza during the war. These latest unfounded accusations represent an effort to manufacture consent to kill Al-Sharif.”
The other journalists killed in the strike are not deemed worthy of mention by the IDF, affirming the tendency in Israeli military doctrine to kill those around the designated target as a perfectly tolerable practice. Again, the rulebook of international humanitarian war is discarded in favour of a normalised murderousness.
The rulebook has also been abandoned regarding journalists working in Gaza, conforming to a pattern of indifference to distinctions between militants or civilians in Israel’s sanguinary targeting. By December 2023, the Committee to Protect Journalists was already declaring that the war in the Strip had been the deadliest ever recorded by the organisation for press members. (The number currently stands at over 190; the global total for 2020-23 was 165.) “Israel is murdering the messengers,” concludes Qudah. “Israel wiped out an entire news crew. It has made no claims that any of the other journalists were terrorists. That’s murder. Plain and simple.”
Israel killed journalists to commit ‘major massacre without sound, image’ in Gaza: Hospital director
In a statement, Al Jazeera Media Network described the killings as “yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom.” The order to kill al-Sharif, “one of Gaza’s bravest journalists, and his colleagues, is a desperate attempt to silence the voices exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza.”
The murder of al-Sharif and his colleagues by Israeli forces constituted the effective wiping out of Al Jazeera’s team, one of the few able to offer consistent, unsmothered coverage about the IDF’s remorseless campaign in Gaza. Since the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas, Israel has prohibited foreign reporters from entering Gaza except under strict invigilation by the Israeli military. Those accompanied by the IDF have been at the mercy of Israeli selectiveness as to where to go and barred from speaking to Palestinians.
In a note to be published in the event of his death, al-Sharif stated that he “lived the pain in all its details”, tasting “grief and loss repeatedly”. This did not deter him from conveying “the truth as it is, without distortion or misrepresentation, hoping that God would witness those who remained silent, those who accepted our killing, and those who suffocated our very breaths.” He also reflected on what images of sheer barbarity had failed to do, with “the mangled bodies of our children and women” failing to move hearts or stop massacres. In dying along with his colleagues, al-Sharif had been butchered in a climate of hyper normalised violence, thinly veiled by the barbaric justifications of Israeli national security.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
Gazans mourn Al Jazeera staff killed by Israel
By AFP
August 11, 2025
By AFP
August 11, 2025
The strike that killed the Al-Jazeera journalists came with Israel preparing to expand its campaign in the Gaza Strip - Copyright AFP Jim WATSON
AFP team in Gaza City with David Stout in Jerusalem
Gazans gathered on Monday for the funeral of five Al Jazeera staff members and a sixth reporter killed in an Israeli strike, with Israel calling one of them a “terrorist” affiliated with Hamas.
Dozens stood amid bombed-out buildings in the courtyard of Al-Shifa hospital to pay their respects to Anas al-Sharif, a prominent Al Jazeera correspondent aged 28, and four of his colleagues, killed on Sunday.
A sixth journalist, Mohammed Al-Khaldi who worked as a freelance reporter, was also killed in the strike that targeted the Al Jazeera team, according to the director of Al-Shifa Hospital, Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya.
Their bodies, wrapped in white shrouds with their faces exposed, were carried through narrow alleys to their graves by mourners including men wearing blue journalists’ flak jackets.
Israel confirmed it had targeted Sharif, whom it labelled a “terrorist” affiliated with Hamas, saying he “posed as a journalist”.
Al Jazeera said its employees were hit in a tent set up for journalists outside the main gate of a hospital in Gaza City.
The four other staff members killed were Mohammed Qreiqeh, also a correspondent, and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa.
“Anas Al-Sharif served as the head of a terrorist cell in the Hamas terrorist organisation and was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF (Israeli) troops,” the military said in a statement.
“The IDF had previously disclosed intelligence information and many documents found in the Gaza Strip, confirming his military affiliation to Hamas,” it said.
It published a graphic showing what it said was a list of Hamas operatives in northern Gaza, including Sharif’s name, as well as an image of him emblazoned with the word: “Eliminated”.
It also published a list it said showed Sharif had been paid $200 by Hamas after an injury, as well as a list it said was a Hamas battalion’s phone directory that included Sharif’s number.
Sharif was one of the channel’s most recognisable faces working on the ground in Gaza, providing daily reports on the now 22-month-old war.
– ‘One of the bravest’ –
A posthumous message, written in April in case of his death, was published on his account on Monday morning saying he had been silenced and urging people “not to forget Gaza”.
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 militant group that has exercised total control over Gaza since 2006.
Following online posts by Israel’s Arabic-language military spokesman Avichay Adraee on Sharif, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called in July for his protection, accusing Israel of a “pattern” of labelling journalists militants “without providing credible evidence”.
It said the Israeli military had levelled similar accusations against other journalists in Gaza earlier in the war, including other Al Jazeera staff.
“International law is clear that active combatants are the only justified targets in a war setting, so unless the IDF can demonstrate that Anas al-Sharif was still an active combatant, then there is no justification for his killing,” Jodie Ginsberg, CPJ’s chief executive, told AFP.
AFP has contacted the Israeli military for comment.
Al Jazeera called the attack that killed Sharif “a desperate attempt to silence voices exposing the Israeli occupation”, as it described Sharif as “one of Gaza’s bravest journalists”.
It also said it followed “repeated incitement and calls by multiple Israeli officials and spokespersons to target the fearless journalist Anas Al Sharif and his colleagues”.
Reporters Without Borders says nearly 200 journalists have been killed in the war so far.
International reporters are prevented from travelling to Gaza by Israel, except on occasional tightly controlled trips with the military.
The strike on the journalists came with criticism mounting over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to expand the war in the Gaza Strip.
– ‘We will win’ –
The security cabinet voted last week to conquer the remaining quarter or so of the territory not yet controlled by Israeli troops, including much of Gaza City and Al-Mawasi, the area designated a safe zone by Israel where huge numbers of Palestinians have sought refuge.
The plan, which Israeli media reported had triggered bitter disagreement between the government and military leadership, drew condemnation from protesters in Israel and numerous countries, including Israeli allies.
Notably, the plans caused Germany, a major weapons supplier and staunch ally, to suspend shipments to Israel of any arms that could be used in Gaza.
Australia said it would join a growing list of Western nations in recognising a Palestinian state.
Despite the diplomatic reversals, Netanyahu remained defiant.
“We will win the war, with or without the support of others,” he told journalists on Sunday.
– ‘Another calamity’ –
The United Nations and humanitarian agencies have condemned the planned expansion.
“If these plans are implemented, they will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza,” UN Assistant Secretary General Miroslav Jenca told the Security Council on Sunday.
UN agencies warned last month that famine was unfolding in the territory, with Israel severely restricting the entry of aid.
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 61,430 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, figures the United Nations says are reliable.
Hamas’s October, 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the war, resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel murdered Anas al-Sharif and his colleagues because genocide can only proceed without witnesses. Western media outlets have failed to condemn the systematic murder of Palestinian journalists, and in the process have become accomplices.
By Ahmad Ibsais
August 11, 2025
MONDOWEISS
A Palestinian journalist inspect the scene after an Israeli airstrike on a journalists’ tent near the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Gaza on August 11, 2025, which killed Anas al-Sharif, Mohamed Qraiqea and three other Al Jazeera journalists.
(Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images)
I still remember the day Shireen Abu Akleh was martyred. My mother called me crying. She had grown up watching Shireen, who was an invited guest into her home every day while she lived in Palestine. I remember when my mom called me after Israel dropped their first bomb in Gaza, the same tears, a different type of violence. And yesterday, my mom called me again to talk about Anas. Anas al-Sharif’s voice was one I’ve come to intimately know over the last two years, and one we will never hear again.
Because, like the almost 300 journalists in Gaza that Israel has killed, Anas represented the truth. And truth is a threat to Israel.
On August 10, Israel deliberately assassinated five Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza City: Anas al-Sharif, Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa. They were working from a tent outside al-Shifa Hospital when Israel killed them in a targeted strike. How remarkable that in two years, no such precision could locate a single hostage. Israel’s military admitted to the killings, falsely claiming al-Sharif was a Hamas commander despite offering zero evidence. Again, Israel kills without evidence, without proof, without reason, but always with the world’s permission.
For 22 months, the international community has watched Israel systematically murder journalists and called it acceptable losses in a just war. Nearly 300 media workers have been killed, the deadliest conflict for journalists in recorded history. Yet the world’s response has been to write strongly worded letters while shipping more weapons. Where are the sanctions that followed Russia’s invasion? Where are the war crimes tribunals that prosecuted Rwandan generals? Where is the global media solidarity that should transcend borders and politics? Apparently that only exists when the victims are not Palestinian.
Under Article 79 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, journalists are explicitly protected as civilians in armed conflict zones. Intentionally directing attacks against civilians, including journalists, constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and amounts to grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. The law is clear. The crime is obvious. But, Israel has transformed every Palestinian journalist into a “legitimate target” by simply calling them terrorists first. This pattern repeats because we have allowed it to become routine. Israel bans international journalists from entering Gaza, leaving only Palestinian voices to document the genocide. Then, systematically, it murders those voices while the world debates whether it was justified rather than demanding accountability.
We have allowed Palestinians to be transformed into mythical figures, martyrs by default, as if their superhuman capacity to endure suffering justifies our abandonment of them. Palestinians should not have to be martyrs. Palestinians should not have to accept their own martyrdom as inevitable. Anas was living separately from his children because he knew Israel would target him. They had told him so. In a text message to a friend, he wrote, “I will not leave Gaza unless it’s to heaven.”
This is the moral bankruptcy of our moment. We celebrate Palestinian resilience while enabling their extermination. We admire their courage while refusing to protect them. We consume their testimony while permitting their assassination. We have made Palestinians perform their own humanity for an audience that has already decided they deserve to die.
Western media institutions bear blood responsibility for this carnage. For decades, they have served as Israel’s public relations arm, sanitizing genocide with passive voice and false balance. They transform “killed by Israel” into “died in violence,” amplify every Israeli claim while demanding impossible proof from Palestinian witnesses, and bury Palestinian voices beneath endless Israeli explanations. How convenient that Israeli military spokesmen are always available for interviews while Palestinian journalists keep getting killed before they can speak. Every major outlet that has platformed Israeli propaganda without challenge, every journalist who has repeated hasbara talking points, every editor who has buried Palestinian voices beneath the fold, you are responsible for Anas. You are responsible for the hundreds of thousands murdered. Your bylines are written in Palestinian blood.
Now, Israel murders journalists after announcing plans to further occupy Gaza because murdering journalists allows genocide to proceed without witnesses. When media outlets failed to condemn this threat, they became accomplices.
I still remember when the ceasefire was announced in January, the way Anas took off his helmet and jacket, relieved that life might return. Today, Anas can rest, and I hope heaven is free of the burden he had to carry, the weight of the world he had to witness, and the dignity he maintained when the world abandoned Palestinians to their fate.
When international journalists finally enter Gaza, they must know their moral cowardice will follow them like a shadow. They will walk through the ruins of a genocide they failed to prevent, interview survivors they refused to believe, document atrocities they could have stopped by simply telling the truth. They will never possess the bravery of the Palestinian journalists murdered by Israel. The world may have abandoned Palestinian journalists, but Palestinian journalists will never abandon the world to its darkness.
I still remember the day Shireen Abu Akleh was martyred. My mother called me crying. She had grown up watching Shireen, who was an invited guest into her home every day while she lived in Palestine. I remember when my mom called me after Israel dropped their first bomb in Gaza, the same tears, a different type of violence. And yesterday, my mom called me again to talk about Anas. Anas al-Sharif’s voice was one I’ve come to intimately know over the last two years, and one we will never hear again.
Because, like the almost 300 journalists in Gaza that Israel has killed, Anas represented the truth. And truth is a threat to Israel.
On August 10, Israel deliberately assassinated five Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza City: Anas al-Sharif, Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa. They were working from a tent outside al-Shifa Hospital when Israel killed them in a targeted strike. How remarkable that in two years, no such precision could locate a single hostage. Israel’s military admitted to the killings, falsely claiming al-Sharif was a Hamas commander despite offering zero evidence. Again, Israel kills without evidence, without proof, without reason, but always with the world’s permission.
For 22 months, the international community has watched Israel systematically murder journalists and called it acceptable losses in a just war. Nearly 300 media workers have been killed, the deadliest conflict for journalists in recorded history. Yet the world’s response has been to write strongly worded letters while shipping more weapons. Where are the sanctions that followed Russia’s invasion? Where are the war crimes tribunals that prosecuted Rwandan generals? Where is the global media solidarity that should transcend borders and politics? Apparently that only exists when the victims are not Palestinian.
Under Article 79 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, journalists are explicitly protected as civilians in armed conflict zones. Intentionally directing attacks against civilians, including journalists, constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and amounts to grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. The law is clear. The crime is obvious. But, Israel has transformed every Palestinian journalist into a “legitimate target” by simply calling them terrorists first. This pattern repeats because we have allowed it to become routine. Israel bans international journalists from entering Gaza, leaving only Palestinian voices to document the genocide. Then, systematically, it murders those voices while the world debates whether it was justified rather than demanding accountability.
We have allowed Palestinians to be transformed into mythical figures, martyrs by default, as if their superhuman capacity to endure suffering justifies our abandonment of them. Palestinians should not have to be martyrs. Palestinians should not have to accept their own martyrdom as inevitable. Anas was living separately from his children because he knew Israel would target him. They had told him so. In a text message to a friend, he wrote, “I will not leave Gaza unless it’s to heaven.”
This is the moral bankruptcy of our moment. We celebrate Palestinian resilience while enabling their extermination. We admire their courage while refusing to protect them. We consume their testimony while permitting their assassination. We have made Palestinians perform their own humanity for an audience that has already decided they deserve to die.
Western media institutions bear blood responsibility for this carnage. For decades, they have served as Israel’s public relations arm, sanitizing genocide with passive voice and false balance. They transform “killed by Israel” into “died in violence,” amplify every Israeli claim while demanding impossible proof from Palestinian witnesses, and bury Palestinian voices beneath endless Israeli explanations. How convenient that Israeli military spokesmen are always available for interviews while Palestinian journalists keep getting killed before they can speak. Every major outlet that has platformed Israeli propaganda without challenge, every journalist who has repeated hasbara talking points, every editor who has buried Palestinian voices beneath the fold, you are responsible for Anas. You are responsible for the hundreds of thousands murdered. Your bylines are written in Palestinian blood.
Now, Israel murders journalists after announcing plans to further occupy Gaza because murdering journalists allows genocide to proceed without witnesses. When media outlets failed to condemn this threat, they became accomplices.
I still remember when the ceasefire was announced in January, the way Anas took off his helmet and jacket, relieved that life might return. Today, Anas can rest, and I hope heaven is free of the burden he had to carry, the weight of the world he had to witness, and the dignity he maintained when the world abandoned Palestinians to their fate.
When international journalists finally enter Gaza, they must know their moral cowardice will follow them like a shadow. They will walk through the ruins of a genocide they failed to prevent, interview survivors they refused to believe, document atrocities they could have stopped by simply telling the truth. They will never possess the bravery of the Palestinian journalists murdered by Israel. The world may have abandoned Palestinian journalists, but Palestinian journalists will never abandon the world to its darkness.
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