Five journalists from Al Jazeera, including a well -known reporter, were killed on Sunday in an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip, the TV channel Qatarie announced. The Israeli army has admitted having targeted the known journalist, calling him ‘terrorist’.
At a time when the Israeli government is determined to implement its new operations plan in the devastated Palestinian territory and hungry by 22 months of war, the television channel has reported ‘what seems to be an Israeli targeted attack on a tent used by its journalists in Gaza-Ville, in front of the Al-Chifa hospital.
She expressed the death of her correspondents Anas Al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, as well as the cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa. Their names are added to the list of nearly 200 journalists, according to Reporters Sans Frontières, killed in the war launched in retaliation for the bloody attack of the Palestinian Hamas movement of October 7, 2023.
Anas Al-Sharif, 28, was one of the best known faces among the correspondents covering daily the conflict in Gaza.
‘Head of a terrorist cell’
The Israeli army confirmed to having targeted it, calling it ‘terrorist’ who pretended to be a journalist ‘. He was the leader of a terrorist cell in the terrorist organization Hamas and was responsible for preparing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and Israeli troops, she said on the Telegram social network.
In its latest messages posted on the social network X Sunday, Anas Al-Sharif reported intense ‘Israeli bombardments on Palestinian territory. He had broadcast a short video showing strikes on the city of Gaza.
A posthumous text that the journalist had written in April in the event of death was published on his account on Monday morning, in which he calls to ‘not forget Gaza’.
In July, the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) accused the Israeli army of carrying out a defamation campaign ‘towards the journalist by presenting it in online messages as a member of Hamas.
“The tendency of Israel, consisting in qualifying journalists as activists without providing credible evidence raises serious questions about its intentions and respect for press freedom,” said Sara Qudah, regional director of the organization based in New York on Sunday to Monday.
Israeli censorship
‘Journalists are civilians and should never be targeted. Those who are responsible for these murders must account, ‘she added in a statement.
Israel had already decided in May 2024 to prohibit the dissemination of Al Jazeera in the country and to close its offices there, the result of a long -standing conflict between the media and the Israeli government, which worsened during the current war in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army has repeatedly accused the journalists of this chain of being ‘terrorist agents’ in Gaza affiliated in Hamas.
More generally, the international press is not allowed to work freely in the Palestinian territory since the start of the conflict. Only a few media, handpicked, entered on board the Israeli army, their reports being subject to strict military censorship.
The international press works based on local journalists and correspondents, who paid a heavy price for the conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he had ordered the army to authorize more journalists from the international press to work under his control in the Gaza Strip.
During the same press conference, he justified the new army operations plan, which provides for the conquest of the city of Gaza and which he presented as the best way to finish war ‘.
/ATS