Late on Sunday, an Israeli strike shook al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, targeting a journalists’ tent by the gate.
As people rushed to help, it became apparent that five Al Jazeera staff had been killed, including Anas al-Sharif, one of the most famous faces of Arabic reporting from Gaza.
Why did Israel want to kill journalists? What happened that night? Here’s what we know:
Who were the five Al Jazeera staff Israel killed?
Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, 28, was one of Gaza’s most recognisable faces for his constant reporting of the reality on the ground over the last 22 months. The father of two was born in Jabalia refugee camp and graduated from Al-Aqsa University’s Faculty of Media. His father was killed by Israel in an air strike on the family home in December 2023.
Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, 33, made his last live report on air only shortly before his assassination, speaking in his trademark eloquent manner. Qreiqeh was born in Gaza City in 1992 and lived in the Shujayea neighbourhood. He earned a BA in journalism and media at the Islamic University of Gaza. Israel killed his brother, Karim, in March in an air attack on Gaza City.
Al Jazeera cameraman Ibrahim Zaher, 25, was from Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
Al Jazeera cameraman Mohammed Noufal, 29, was also from Jabalia. He lost his mother and one brother in earlier Israeli attacks. His other brother, Ibrahim, also works as a cameraman for Al Jazeera.
What were they doing when they were killed?
They were working.
The team was in a tent by the main gate of Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital late on Sunday evening.
The tent was where they worked, as journalists in Gaza have gathered at hospitals to seek better electricity and internet connections, a fact that has been well-known since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza.
“I’m not far from al-Shifa Hospital, just one block away, and I could hear the massive explosion that took place in the past half an hour or so, near al-Shifa Hospital,” Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reported yesterday.
“I could see it when it lit up the sky and, within moments, the news circulated that it was the journalist camp at the main gate of the al-Shifa Hospital.”
What happened?
Al Jazeera’s reporter Hani al-Shaer said an Israeli drone hit the journalists’ tent at approximately 11:35pm (20:35 GMT) on Sunday night.
Shortly before being killed, al-Sharif wrote on X that Israel had launched intense, concentrated bombardment – also known as “fire belts” – on the eastern and southern parts of Gaza City.
Journalist Amer al-Sultan was in a neighbouring tent when the attack took place.
“I came to the scene and saw all the destruction,” al-Sultan said, standing amid the tent’s wreckage, his back to a concrete wall pocked and splattered from the attack. “[I thought] all our colleagues were martyred.”
Al-Sultan added that he wasn’t sure who the journalists were who were in the tent, but “when I started filming, I saw our colleagues Anas al-Sharif was on the ground and Mohammed Qreiqeh, who was on fire.
“We started to pull him out and try to put out the fire.”
The people gathered there tried to get Qreiqeh inside al-Shifa Hospital, but he succumbed to his wounds before they could get him treatment, al-Sultan said.
Mohammed Qeita, a freelance journalist, was also nearby.
“I was not just a witness to the event, I was part of it…The fire was very strong.
“Even now, I can’t believe it,” he said.
“We knew Anas was the target… He was our voice.”
How did Israel explain deliberately killing journalists?
It said one of them wasn’t really a journalist.
Israel’s army posted about deliberately killing the journalists, claiming it had wanted to kill al-Sharif, who it accused of being an armed commander for Hamas only posing as a journalist.
In the statement, it accused al-Sharif of “advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and troops” and alleged it had documents providing “unequivocal proof” of this.
Muhammad Shehada, an analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said there was “zero evidence” that al-Sharif took part in any hostilities.
“His entire daily routine was standing in front of a camera from morning to evening,” he told Al Jazeera.
On numerous occasions over the last 22 months, Israel has justified killing reporters by claiming they belonged to armed groups. Groups focused on press freedom and media workers’ rights have said for months that Israel is deliberately targeting journalists in Gaza.
Two of the most prominent incidents included journalist Hamza Dahdouh, son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza Bureau Chief Wael Dahdouh, and journalist Hossam Shabat, who were both assassinated by Israel and accused of being members of Hamas without any evidence.
What did Al Jazeera say?
Al Jazeera called the killing of its staff a “targeted assassination … in yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom”.
It said the journalists “were among the last remaining voices from within Gaza, providing the world with unfiltered, on-the-ground coverage of the devastating realities endured by its people”.
Israel has banned international media from entering Gaza since October 2023, but “Al Jazeera journalists remained within besieged Gaza … [delivering] searing eyewitness accounts of the horrors unleashed over 22 months of relentless bombing and destruction,” the statement said.
Why did Israel want to assassinate Anas al-Sharif?
Al-Sharif was the face of Al Jazeera Arabic in Gaza and of iconic moments as he reported on Israel’s atrocities in the besieged, bombarded enclave.
For months, Israeli officials had threatened him, demanding that he stop reporting, but he refused, pledging to stay in northern Gaza and continue his coverage.
Numerous rights groups and press freedom groups called for al-Sharif’s protection after he was directly threatened by Israel.
Israel ramped up a smear campaign on al-Sharif in recent months, with army spokesperson Avichay Adraee calling out al-Sharif by name in a video on X last month, accusing him of being part of Hamas’s military wing.
Irene Khan, UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression, said last month that Adraee made “an unsubstantiated claim” and called the smear a “blatant assault on journalists”.
Israel killing al-Sharif was a targeted attempt to shut down coverage of its atrocities, former Executive Director of Human Rights Watch Ken Roth said.
“This is not an accidental killing. This is not a journalist who happened to get caught in Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment of Palestinian civilians in general.
“This was a targeted killing,” Roth told Al Jazeera.
Authorities in Gaza say Israel has killed nearly 270 journalists and media workers since it launched its war on Gaza.
