A 28-year-old father, the Al Jazeera Anas Al-Sharif correspondent died this Sunday, August 10 in an Israeli strike that was aimed at. He covered war between Hamas and Israel from the Gaza Strip since the start of clashes.
The Al Jazeera television channel confirmed this Sunday, August 10, the death of five of its journalists on Sunday, August 10 in an Israeli strike in Gaza, which targeted their tent in front of the Al-Shifa hospital.
Among them, a particular correspondent was targeted, confirmed the Israeli army: Anas Al-Sharif. Israel called him as a “terrorist” who “pretended to be a journalist” to justify the target of this attack.
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, the army on Telegram said.
Journalist in Gaza, a “duty”
Anas Al-Sharif was corresponding to Al Jazeera on the Gaza strip. Palestinian of 28 years old, he was born at the Jabaliya camp, the largest refugee camp in Palestine, but his family is from Ashkelon, a city occupied today by Israel. Married, he was also the father of two children.
Reporter well known to spectators of the Qatari chain, he covered the news on the Gaza Strip since the start of clashes between Hamas and Israel, in October 2023.
He is described by his employer as “one of the bravest journalists in Gaza”, who remained there during the months when the territory was besieged and hungry while international journalists were prohibited from access to Gaza.
“When a woman collapsed in front of the Al-Shifa hospital while I was live on television, I compatited with her,” said the correspondent in her last interview, for Al Jazeera. “A few hours later, the Israeli army spokesman published a video directly against me, so that I do not expose the famine imposed on the Gaza Strip.”
Anas Al-Sharif was aware of representing a target for the Israeli army, while more than 200 Palestinian journalists have been killed for almost two years. The Al Jazeera channel was also prohibited in Israel in May 2024, the result of a long -standing conflict between the media and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who worsened during the current war in the Gaza Strip.
“These threats are perpetual, but it is my duty. I show the suffering of the Palestinian people among which I live, the suffering that I live too.”
“Don’t forget Gaza”
Thus, he wrote a “will” and “final message” which was posted on his account X at the announcement of his death. This text was written last April and published this Monday, August 11. “If you read these lines, know that Israel has managed to kill me and reduce me to silence.”
Before that, Anas Al-Sharif reported “intense” Israeli bombardments on Palestinian territory and had broadcast a short video showing strikes on the city of Gaza.
“I experienced pain in all its details, tasted with suffering and the loss many times, however, I have never hesitated once to share the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification.
In her latest message, Anas Al-Sharif calls on the Palestinians not to abandon. He also has a thought for his eldest daughter Sham, “the apple of my eyes, whom I never had the chance to see growing as I would have dreamed”, his son Salah, “that I would have liked to support and accompany his whole life until he grows up enough to carry my burden and continue my mission”, and his wife Umm Salah.
“Don’t forget Gaza,” concludes the journalist. Anas Al-Sharif died alongside his colleague Mohammed Qreiqeh and the three cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa.
