Israel is facing growing global condemnation after an airstrike near Gaza’s largest hospital killed six Palestinian journalists – including two veteran Al Jazeera correspondents – in what Gaza authorities and press freedom groups call a calculated attempt to silence reporting ahead of a planned full occupation of Gaza City.
The strike hit a marked press tent late Sunday beside Al-Shifa Hospital in western Gaza City, Gaza’s Government Media Office said.
The dead included Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif and Mohamed Qraiqea, photojournalists Ibrahim Dahir and Moumin Alaywa, assistant photojournalist Mohammed Noufal, and Sahat news reporter Mohammed Al-Khalidi, who succumbed to his injuries Monday.
Several other journalists were wounded.
With their deaths, the number of journalists killed since Israel’s Gaza offensive began on Oct. 7, 2023, has risen to 238, according to the media office.
Gaza officials called the strike a “clear war crime” aimed at concealing evidence of genocide and enabling future atrocities.
They said the attack was a prelude to Israel’s Security Cabinet approving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan for the full occupation of Gaza City.
This decision has drawn sharp rebukes from governments, including Qatar and rights groups worldwide.
“The targeting of journalists and media institutions by the occupation’s warplanes is a deliberate attempt to silence the truth,” the Gaza media office said.
Al Jazeera Media Network called the killings a “planned assassination” of its Gaza team, alleging repeated threats from Israeli army officials against al-Sharif and his colleagues.
“The order to kill Anas al-Sharif, one of Gaza’s bravest journalists, and his colleagues reflects a calculated effort to suppress truth as the occupation advances,” the network said Monday.
The Israeli military confirmed killing al-Sharif but did not acknowledge the deaths of Qraiqea or the other four journalists in the same strike.
Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex, accused Israel of preparing “a major massacre” in Gaza City without media witnesses. “This time, it wants no sound, no image,” he told Türkiye’s Anadolu Agency (AA).
He said the deaths of al-Sharif and Qraiqea meant “Gaza and the world lost a voice reporting the oppression our people face.”
In a will dated Aug. 6 and made public after his death, al-Sharif wrote: “If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice. Peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings.”
He urged Palestinians and supporters worldwide to “be bridges toward the liberation of the land and its people” and appealed for the care of his wife, Bayan, daughter Sham, son Salah, and his mother.
“Do not forget Gaza,” he wrote. “Do not forget me in your sincere prayers for forgiveness and acceptance.”
Raised in Jabalia refugee camp, al-Sharif described his life as “pain in all its forms” but said he died “steadfast in my principles,” hoping his blood would “illuminate the path of freedom” for his people.
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani called the killings “crimes beyond imagination” in a post on X, naming the Al Jazeera journalists and condemning Israel’s “deliberate targeting” of media workers.
Hamas called the attack a “brutal crime that exceeds all limits of fascism and criminality,” accusing Israel of exploiting global silence to kill journalists without deterrence.
Rights groups – including Israel’s own B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel – have accused the government of genocide, citing the systematic destruction of Palestinian society and its health care system.
Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice and arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Since October 2023, the war has killed more than 61,400 Palestinians, Gaza health officials say, leveling entire neighborhoods and pushing the territory to the brink of famine.
