Israel’s military struck an area outside Gaza City’s hospital complex Sunday, killing Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, fellow journalist Mohamed Qureiqa and at least six others who had been seeking shelter there.
Shifa Hospital officials confirmed the deaths, including four additional journalists and two civilians and said the airstrike also damaged the emergency building’s entrance, hospital director Rami Mohanna told The Associated Press (AP).
The strike drew sharp condemnation from press freedom advocates, who called it a retaliatory attack targeting those documenting the conflict in Gaza.
Later Sunday, Israel’s military accused al-Sharif of leading a Hamas cell – a claim both Al Jazeera and al-Sharif consistently rejected as unfounded.
The incident marked the first time during the war that Israel’s military has swiftly claimed responsibility after a journalist was killed in a strike.
It came less than a year after Israeli army officials first accused al-Sharif and other Al Jazeera journalists of being members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
In a July 24 video, Israel’s army spokesperson Avichay Adraee criticized Al Jazeera and accused al-Sharif of being part of Hamas’ military wing.
Al Jazeera called the strike a “targeted assassination” and accused Israeli officials of incitement, linking al-Sharif’s death to allegations the network and correspondent denied.
“Anas and his colleagues were among the last remaining voices from within Gaza, providing the world with unfiltered, on-the-ground coverage of the devastating realities endured by its people,” the Qatari network said in a statement.
Al-Sharif reported a nearby bombardment minutes before his death.
In a social media post that Al Jazeera said was written to be posted in case of his death, he lamented the devastation wrought by the war and bid farewell to his wife, son and daughter.
“I never hesitated for a single day to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification,” the 28-year-old wrote.
The journalists are the latest to be killed in what observers have called the deadliest conflict for journalists in modern times.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said Sunday that at least 186 have been killed in Gaza.
Al-Sharif began reporting for Al Jazeera a few days after the war broke out. He was known for covering Israel’s bombardment in northern Gaza and later for reporting on the starvation gripping much of the territory’s population.
In a July broadcast, he cried on air as a woman behind him collapsed from hunger.
“I am talking about the slow death of those people,” he said at the time.
Al Jazeera is blocked in Israel, and soldiers raided its offices in the occupied West Bank last year, ordering them closed.
Al-Sharif’s death comes weeks after the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said Israel had targeted him with a smear campaign.
“Israel’s pattern of labeling journalists as militants without providing credible evidence raises serious questions about its intent and respect for press freedom,” Sara Qudah, the group’s regional director, said in a statement.
