Six media professionals killed | Israel’s attack on the press raises indignation

“This is my will and my last message. If these words reach you, know that Israel managed to kill me and silence my voice. »»

Thus begins the posthumous letter of journalist Anas Al-Sharif, one of the six members of the media killed on Sunday by an Israeli strike, an attack against the press strongly denounced in the world.

Aware that his life was threatened, Anas Al-Sharif, who worked for the Al-Jazeera channel, wrote a long text, which he asked to distribute “in the event of death”.

The Israeli army confirmed to have targeted it, believing that he was “a terrorist” posing as a journalist.

Anas Al-Sharif was born in a Palestinian refugee camp. He was married, had two children and was one of the best known correspondents covering the conflict in Gaza.

In 2023, Al-Jazeera reported that his father, Jamal Al-Sharif, had been killed by an Israeli bombardment on the family residence.

In his text, Anas Al-Sharif talks about Palestine as the “jewel of the Muslims crown and the heartbeat of each free person in this world”.

“I entrust you with his people and their oppressed young children who did not have time to dream and live in security and peace. »»

Praying to God for all his bereaved family, he denounces “those who remained silent and accepted our massacre” and all those “whose heart was not affected by the remains of our children and our women, and against those who have not ended the massacre that our people have been undergoing for more than a year and a half”.

“If I die, it will have been faithful to my principles. »»

A call for solidarity

Al-Jazeera condemned the attack, saying to seeing it “a desperate attempt to silence the voices that expose the imminent capture of Gaza and its occupation”.

Five other media professionals were killed in the same attack. According to Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), four of them worked or had worked for the Al-Jazeera channel. In addition to Anas al-Sharif, it is the correspondent Mohammed Qraiqea, video cover Ibrahim al-theher, du cameraman mohamed nofal and Moamen became, Independent journalist who worked with Al-Jazeera.

Mohammed al-Khaldi, another independent journalist, creator of an information YouTube channel, Also perished.

RSF denounces the fact that Israel, “without putting forward solid evidence”, argues that Anas Al-Sharif had a “terrorist affiliation”.

In its press release, the organization denounces “an unworthy technique used recurrently against journalists and intended to hide war crimes, while the army has already killed more than 200 media professionals”.

“It is necessary to put an end to this massacre and the strategy of the media-out of Israel, intended to hide the crimes committed by its army, for more than 22 months, in the Palestinian Enclave besieged and hungry. The international community can no longer look at. »»

In Quebec, 51 people-mainly retired journalists, as well as an ex-president of the press council and an ex-president of the Professional Federation of Journalists of Quebec-launched through a letter an “call for solidarity towards journalists from the Gaza Strip¹ ».

“This murderous conflict has already killed more journalists and media workers than all the wars gathered since the start of the XX^e A century, says the Watson Institute of Brown University, Rhode Island, “they said. “Those who continue, despite everything, to inform us show immense courage. »»

The signatories recall that “journalists are, under article 79 of the Geneva Convention (August 12, 1949),” considered as civilian persons “and must therefore benefit from the same protection measures during armed conflicts”.

The European Union condemned the attack. The British Prime Minister’s spokesman said Keir Starmer was “seriously worried” that journalists are repeatedly targeted in Gaza.

Humanitarian workers also targeted

In June 2025, the UN also published a press release to denounce “the attacks directed against civilians near the aid centers in the Gaza Strip”. They “could constitute a” serious violation of international law and a war crime “”, he was written.

“Each of these attacks must be the subject of a quick and impartial investigation, and those responsible must be accountable. »»

Still in June, the UN also honored the memory “of the 168 staff members who lost their lives in 2024. Among them, 126 were killed in Gaza and all, except one, served within the United Nations Agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA”.

On Monday, the Israeli authorities and politicians were outraged by a graffiti on the wall of the lamentations, in Jerusalem, which said in Hebrew that “there is a Holocaust in Gaza” and that “children die of hunger”.

The police would have arrested a 27 -year -old man who was said to have been suffering from mental health problems and who, according to the official version, would have apologized during his interrogation.

Of the 251 people kidnapped on October 7, 2023 during the bloody Hamas attack on Israeli soil, 49 remain retained, 27 of which were declared dead by the Israeli army.

The attack led to the death of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to AFP’s assessment made from official data. Israeli reprisals in Gaza have already killed 61,499 people, mostly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Hamas, deemed reliable by the UN.

1. Read the letter “Our eyes and ears in Gaza are targeted”