Al Jazeera journalist Al-Sharif among 5 killed in Gaza

KABUL (Pajhwok): Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif has been killed alongside four colleagues in what is being described as a targeted Israeli attack on a tent housing journalists in Gaza, media reports said on Monday.

According to Al Jazeera, seven people were killed in the strike on the tent, which was located outside the main gate of Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital, late on Sunday evening.

The victims included Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa.

Shortly before his death, al-Sharif — a well-known 28-year-old Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who had reported extensively from northern Gaza — wrote on X that Israel had launched intense, concentrated bombardments, also referred to as “fire belts”, on the eastern and southern parts of Gaza City.

In his final video, the loud booms of Israeli missile strikes can be heard in the background as the night sky flashes orange from the explosions.

In a statement, Al Jazeera Media Network condemned the killings as “yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom”.

“This attack comes amid the catastrophic consequences of the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza, which has seen the relentless slaughter of civilians, forced starvation and the obliteration of entire communities,” the network said.

Al Jazeera urged the international community and all relevant organisations to “take decisive measures to halt this ongoing genocide and end the deliberate targeting of journalists”.

kk/sa