Israel’s military targeted and killed a correspondent for Al Jazeera, Anas al-Sharif, and several others in an airstrike in Gaza late Sunday. The strike occurred hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended a planned military offensive into some of Gaza’s most populated areas.
Al Jazeera described the attack as a “targeted assassination” and accused Israeli officials of incitement. The Committee to Protect Journalists and other organizations condemned the killing, saying it was retribution against journalists documenting the war in Gaza.
Five of the six slain journalists were Al Jazeera staff members. Mohamed Qreiqeh, another journalist killed in the strike, was a 33-year-old native of Gaza City. Al-Sharif, who reported on Israel’s bombardment in northern Gaza and the starvation gripping much of the territory’s population, had warned about the dangers of covering the conflict.
The killing brings the total number of Al Jazeera staff journalists killed during the war to 11, according to CPJ data. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, Irene Khan, described the killings as part of a deliberate strategy to suppress the truth and obstruct documentation of international crimes.
Hundreds of people gathered Monday to mourn al-Sharif, Qreiqeh, and their colleagues. The international community has condemned the killing, with Amnesty International calling for an independent investigation into the deaths of Palestinian journalists.
Source: https://apnews.com/article/mideast-wars-gaza-journalist-jazeera-c7d73f1d3cfa3d24fb4ce5a294c08d32