Gaza latest: Israel draws outrage after Al Jazeera journalists killed in ‘targeted assassination’
Israel is facing severe condemnation after an airstrike in Gaza killed Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif and four fellow journalists in the embattled Strip.
Al-Sharif, 28, one of the TV news channel’s most prominent voices in Gaza, was killed along with reporter Mohammed Qreiqeh, and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa. The Israeli strike targeted a tent where the journalists were sheltering at the Al Shifa medical complex in Gaza City, hospital director Dr Muhammad Abu Salmiya told The Independent.
Al Jazeera Media Network condemned what it called the “targeted assassination” of its correspondents. “The order to assassinate Anas Al Sharif, one of Gaza’s bravest journalists, and his colleagues, is a desperate attempt to silence the voices exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza,” the statement read.
Israel defended the killings, alleging that Al-Sharif was a “Hamas terrorist” who posed as a journalist.
The Committee to Protect Journalists last month said it was alarmed by the “repeated threats” made by an Israeli army spokesperson against Al-Sharif and called on the international community to protect him.
Meanwhile, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his plan to occupy Gaza City even as the UN warned of “another calamity” in the besieged Palestinian territory.
