Palestine: Israel kills five Al Jazeera staff in a targeted attack on a journalists’ tent in Gaza City

On 10 August, Israeli forces killed five Al Jazeera staff including journalist Anas al-Sharif, correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa in a targeted attack on a tent housing journalists located outside Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate, the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate (PJS), in condemning, in the strongest possible terms, the deliberate targeting of journalists. They also urge UN Member states to adopt a binding international convention for the safety of journalists.

Mourners carry the body of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, who was killed alongside other journalists in an overnight Israeli strike on their tent in Gaza City, during his funeral in Gaza City on 11 August. Credit: Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP

Anas al-Sharif kept reportingthe "intense and concentrated Israeli bombardment" on eastern and southern areas of Gaza City until his voice was silencedby an Israeli airstrike. Following this attack, the Israeli military acknowledged in a statementthat it targeted and killed Anas al-Sharif, alleging he had headed a Hamas cell and was involved in rocket attacks against Israel.

On 24 July, Avichai Adraee, the Israeli Army's Arabic language spokesperson, accusedAl Jazeera reporter Anas Al-Sharif of being a member of Hamas' military wing. Three weeks later, Al-Sharif and the whole Al Jazeera media crew in Gaza were dead.

The IFJ recently condemnedIsrael's smearing campaign against Gaza's journalists, a campaign that included unproven allegations of their being terrorism accomplices, and it warned that this puts their lives at risk.

IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: "After a smear campaign against Gaza's journalists, Israel has killed five Al Jazeera staff in a tent housing journalists. The deliberate targeting of journalists is a war crime and Israeli leaders must be held accountable for their heinous actions. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this deliberate killing of our colleagues and we stand in solidarity with all staff at Al Jazeera and our colleagues working in Gaza under such unacceptable circumstances".

The Federation recalls the critical need for a binding international convention on the safety and independence of journalists and other media professionals, and it urges national governments to adopt it. "UN Member states must support a binding convention at the UN level. This convention should protect journalists and ensure accountability for the perpetrators of crimes against journalists," added Bellanger.

The IFJ has been gathering evidence about the targeting of Palestinian journalists by Israeli forces since October 2023, for the purpose of lodging a complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The IFJ and the PJS were among the first organisations to file complaints to the ICC, in May and September 2022, in order to demand accountability and justice for crimes related to the killing of Palestinian journalists.

To date, at least 180 Palestinian journalists and media workers have beenkilled in Gaza since 7 October 2023.