Al Jazeera Media Network condemned the “targeted assassination” on Sunday of five staff members in Gaza – journalists Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qraiqea, along with Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa – calling it “another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom”. Freelance journalist and Mohammed al-Khalidi was also killed.
Al Jazeera said the journalists and staff were targeted by the Israeli military in the tent they were stationed at opposite al-Shifa medical complex in Gaza, and the order to assassinate Sharif – one of Gaza’s most well-known journalists – and his colleagues was ” a desperate attempt to silence the voices exposing Israel’s impending seizure and full occupation of Gaza”.
In a statement, the network said: “As Al Jazeera Media Network bids farewell to yet another group of its finest journalists, who boldly and courageously documented the plight of Gaza and its people since the onset of the war, it holds the Israeli occupation forces and government responsible for deliberately targeting and assassinating its journalists.
“This follows repeated incitement and calls by multiple Israeli officials and spokespersons to target the fearless journalist Anas Al Sharif and his colleagues.”
Al Jazeera has been covering the war on Gaza since it started.
“While international media was barred from entering, Al Jazeera journalists remained within besieged Gaza, experiencing the hunger and suffering they documented through their lenses. Through continuous, courageous live coverage, they have delivered searing eyewitness accounts of the horrors unleashed over 22 months of relentless bombing and destruction”.
