Israeli occupation forces assassinated Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif and five other journalists on Sunday evening after directly bombing a tent designated for media workers near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
The Government Media Office in Gaza said the attack was carried out “with premeditation and intent,” deliberately targeting the journalists’ gathering, killing the six and injuring others.
Alongside al-Sharif, the journalists killed were: Mohammed Qreiqea, Ibrahim Zaher, Mo’men Aloua, Mohammed Noufal, and Mohammed al-Khaldi, who succumbed to his wounds on Monday.
The Media Office explained that the strike came just two days after Netanyahu’s government announced a plan to fully occupy the Gaza Strip, describing the targeting of journalists as “a full-fledged war crime” aimed at “silencing the truth and erasing evidence of genocide.”
Since the start of the assault on 7 October 2023, journalists and media institutions in Gaza have been subjected to repeated, deliberate attacks, reflecting a clear policy to suppress eyewitness accounts and prevent documentation of atrocities.
When carried out systematically, such practices fall under the definition of crimes against humanity and constitute an element of genocide under international law, as they target the very witnesses of the crimes.
International humanitarian law prohibits targeting journalists or their workplaces during armed conflicts, considering it a war crime. In Gaza, evidence suggests these killings are not accidental but part of a deliberate plan to destroy evidence of mass killings, siege, and starvation,acts that amount to genocide.
The continued targeting of journalists reflects Israeli occupation’s impunity and underscores the urgent need for immediate international action to ensure their protection and hold those responsible to account, preserving the right to report the truth and preventing further blackout on events in Gaza.
It is worth noting that the ongoing genocide since 7 October 2023 has resulted in the killing of 61,258 Palestinians and the injury of 152,045 others, most of them women and children, in addition to more than 9,000 missing persons, hundreds of thousands displaced, and famine claiming the lives of 2,017 people, including 100 children, according to official Palestinian data.
