Palestinians check the destroyed Al Jazeera tent and a car at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Aug. 11, 2025, following an overnight strike by the Israeli military. (Credit: Bashar Taleb/AFP)
A prominent Al Jazeera journalist, who had previously been threatened by Israel, was killed along with five journalists in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday in an attack condemned by journalists and rights groups.
Israel's military said it targeted and killed Anas al-Sharif, alleging he had headed a Hamas militant cell and was involved in rocket attacks on Israel.
Al Jazeera, which is funded by the Qatari government, rejected the assertion, and before his death, Sharif had also rejected such claims by Israel.
Sharif, 28, was among a group of four Al Jazeera journalists and an assistant who died in a strike on a tent near al-Shifa Hospital in eastern Gaza City, Gaza officials and Al Jazeera said. An official at the hospital said two other people were killed in the strike.
A sixth journalist, Mohammad Al-Khaldi, a local freelance reporter, was also killed in the airstrike, medics at al-Shifa Hospital said on Monday.
Calling Sharif "one of Gaza's bravest journalists," Al Jazeera said the attack was a "desperate attempt to silence voices in anticipation of the occupation of Gaza."
The other journalists killed were Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal, Al Jazeera said.
"The deliberate targeting of journalists by Israel in the Gaza Strip reveals how these crimes are beyond imagination," Qatar's Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, said on X.
The U.N. human rights office condemned the killing of the journalists, saying the actions by Israel's military represented a "grave breach of international humanitarian law" as Palestinians reported the heaviest bombardments in weeks.
"Israel must respect and protect all civilians, including journalists," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk's office said, noting that at least 242 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza since the Hamas attacks on Israel set off war in the Palestinian territory in October 2023.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is "gravely concerned" about the repeated targeting of journalists in Gaza, his spokesperson said on Monday.
"We are gravely concerned by the repeated targeting of journalists in Gaza," Starmer's spokesperson told reporters.
"Reporters covering conflicts are afforded protection under international humanitarian law, and journalists must be able to report independently, without fear, and Israel must ensure journalists can carry out their work safely."
Its post on social media platform X was accompanied by a photograph of flattened blue tents next to a bullet-ridden wall in Gaza City.
The Israeli military said in a statement that Sharif headed a Hamas cell and "was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and ...[Israeli] troops," citing intelligence and documents found in Gaza as evidence. It has not made these public.
Israel denies deliberately targeting journalists. It says many of those killed in Israeli airstrikes were members of militant groups, working under the guise of the press.
On Monday, people gathered at Sheikh Radwan Cemetery in the heart of the Gaza Strip to mourn the journalists. Friends, colleagues and relatives embraced and consoled one another, many wiping away tears as they bid farewell.
Sharif was previously part of a Reuters team, which in 2024 won a Pulitzer Prize in the category of Breaking News Photography for coverage of the Gaza war.
The war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is the deadliest on record for journalists, according to the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs' Costs of War project.
The Gaza government media office said 238 journalists have been killed since the war started on Oct. 7, 2023. The Committee to Protect Journalists said at least 186 journalists have been killed in the Gaza conflict.
A press freedom group and a United Nations expert previously warned that Sharif's life was in danger due to his reporting from Gaza. U.N. Special Rapporteur Irene Khan said last month that Israel's claims against him were unsubstantiated.
Pre-recorded message
Al Jazeera said Sharif had left a social media message to be posted in the event of his death, parts of which read, "I never hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or misrepresentation, hoping that God would witness those who remained silent."
Last October, Israel's military had named Sharif as one of six Gaza journalists it alleged were members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, citing documents it said showed lists of people who completed training courses and salaries.
“Al Jazeera categorically rejects the Israeli occupation forces’ portrayal of our journalists as terrorists and denounces their use of fabricated evidence,” the network said in a statement at the time.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which in July urged the international community to protect Al Sharif, said in a statement that Israel had failed to provide any evidence to back up its allegations against him.
Following the attack, the CPJ said it was "appalled" to learn of the journalists' deaths.
"Israel's pattern of labelling journalists as militants without providing credible evidence raises serious questions about its intent and respect for press freedom," said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah.
"Journalists are civilians and must never be targeted. Those responsible for these killings must be held accountable."
The Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate condemned what it described as a "bloody crime" of assassination.
Sharif, whose X account showed more than 500,000 followers, posted on the platform minutes before his death that Israel had been intensely bombarding Gaza City for more than two hours.
Hamas said the killing may signal the start of an Israeli offensive.
"The assassination of journalists and the intimidation of those who remain paves the way for a major crime that the occupation is planning to commit in Gaza City," Hamas said in a statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will launch a new offensive to dismantle Hamas strongholds in Gaza, where a hunger crisis is escalating after 22 months of war.
Following Netanyahu's press conference on Sunday, Sharif posted messages on X describing "intense, concentrated Israeli bombardment" on Gaza City.
One of his final messages included a short video showing nearby Israeli strikes hitting Gaza City.
"Anas Al Sharif and his colleagues were among the last remaining voices in Gaza conveying the tragic reality to the world," Al Jazeera said.
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