Assassination of Anas Al-Sharif

Assassination of Anas Al-Sharif
Part of the killing of journalists in the Gaza war
Location	Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Palestine
Coordinates	31°31′27″N 34°26′39″E
Date	10 August 2025 (2025-08-10) 23:22 (EEST)
Attack type	Airstrike
Deaths	7 (including Anas Al-Sharif)
Perpetrators	Israeli Defense Forces

On 10 August 2025, Anas Al-Sharif, a Palestinian journalist working for Al Jazeera, was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike on a media tent outside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The strike also killed four of his colleagues – Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa – along with two others, including Al-Sharif's nephew. The attack was widely condemned by Al Jazeera, press freedom organizations, and Palestinian authorities as a deliberate assault on journalists, while the Israel Defense Forces claimed Al-Sharif was a Hamas operative – an allegation rejected by Al Jazeera and media watchdogs. The assassination occurred amidst the ongoing Gaza war and was described as part of a broader pattern of violence against journalists in Gaza.

Background

Anas Al-Sharif, born in Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, was a well-known correspondent for Al Jazeera Arabic, known for his on-the-ground reporting during the Israel-Hamas war that began on 7 October 2023. His coverage included interviews with residents affected by the conflict and footage of the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes, earning him a significant following, with over 500,000 followers on his X account. Al-Sharif was part of a Reuters photography team that won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for their coverage of the war.

Before his death, Al-Sharif had faced threats from Israeli authorities. In July 2025, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and UN Special Rapporteur Irene Khan concerned his safety, citing an Israeli military smear campaign accusing him of being a Hamas fighter. These allegations, which Al-Sharif and Al Jazeera dismissed as baseless, were seen by press freedom groups as an attempt to justify targeting him. In December 2023, an Israeli airstrike killed his father, Jamal Al-Sharif, in their family home in Jabalia, after Al-Sharif received threats from Israeli officers to cease his coverage.

The broader context of the strike was Israel's military campaign in Gaza, launched in response to the October 7 attacks led by Hamas, which killed approximately 1,200 people and took over 200 hostages. By August 2025, the war had resulted more than 71,000 Palestinian deaths, widespread destruction, and a humanitarian crisis, including famine conditions in parts of Gaza. Journalists in Gaza faced extreme risks, with the CPJ saying that Israel was responsible for nearly 70% of journalists killed globally in 2024, while Reporters Without Borders (RSF) had reported over 200 journalist deaths in Gaza since October 2023. The targeting of journalists, combined with Israel's restrictions on foreign media access to Gaza, was said to create an "information blackout" in parts of the territory. On 23 October 2024, the IDF released documents naming Al-Sharif among six Al Jazeera journalists it claimed were operatives of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). The IDF alleged that Al-Sherif served as the leader of a rocket launching squad and was a member of a Nukhba Force company in Hamas’s East Jabalia Battalion. Al Jazeera dismissed the reports as "fabricated accusations".

Airstrike

On 10 August 2025, an Israeli missile deliberately struck a tent designated for journalists near the main gate of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, where Al-Sharif and his colleagues were sheltering. The attack killed seven people, including Al-Sharif; Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh; and Al Jazeera cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa. Al-Sharif's nephew, who was studying journalism, was also among the victims. The strike damaged part of the hospital's emergency department. Al-Sharif had posted on social media minutes before his death, reporting intense Israeli bombardment in Gaza City. Wadi Abu al-Saud, a Palestinian journalist who was near the tent at the time of the airstrike, said it occurred at 11:22 pm.

The IDF later confirmed the strike, describing Al-Sharif as a Hamas "terrorist" who "posed as a journalist for the Al Jazeera network operative". The IDF alleged that Al-Sharif was a Hamas cell leader in charge of rocket launching. The IDF's swift claim of responsibility was unusual, as it typically delays or avoids acknowledging strikes that kill journalists. The IDF said it had shared "personnel rosters, lists of terror training courses, phone directories, and salary documents", but did not provide credible evidence to support its claim. Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the CPJ, disputed the IDF's accusation, saying: "International law is very clear on this point that the only individuals who are legitimate targets during a war are active combatants. Having worked as a media advisor for Hamas, or indeed for Hamas currently, does not make you an active combatant."

Reactions

Media and press freedom organizations

Al Jazeera Media Network condemned the strike as a "premeditated assassination" and "yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom", noting that Al-Sharif and his colleagues were among the few journalists still reporting from Gaza. The Qatari network accused Israel of attempting to suppress coverage of its military actions. Al Jazeera managing editor Mohamed Mawad said that Al-Sharif's killing followed a pattern of "degrading, delegitimizing, smearing, and then killing" that had been practiced against other Palestinian journalists.

The Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate described it as a "bloody crime", and Hamas suggested it signaled an impending Israeli invasion of Gaza City. Press freedom organizations, including the CPJ, RSF, and the International Federation of Journalists reiterated that journalists are civilians under international law and must not be targeted. According to Sara Qudah of the CPJ, "Israel's pattern of labeling journalists as militants without providing credible evidence raises serious questions about its intent and respect for press freedom."

Political and diplomatic responses

The Palestinian mission to the United Nations accused Israel of "deliberately assassinating" al-Sharif and Qreiqeh, describing them as among the "last remaining journalists" in Gaza. Hamas said it was "a barbaric crime that surpasses all limits of fascism and criminality." Adding in a statement: "The martyr Anas al-Sharif was a model of the free journalist, documenting the crime of starvation and showing the world the scenes of famine imposed by the occupation on our people in Gaza," The Palestinian Islamic Jihad condemned Al-Sharif's assassination as a "heinous war crime committed by the usurping entity in full view of the entire world," and warned that Israel is paving the way for the next phase of its assault by "targeting journalists who expose its crimes and massacres to the world." The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine stated that the killing of the journalists serves as "a dangerous indicator of the occupation's intent to commit the most heinous atrocities in Gaza."

Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei Hamaneh called on the world to "hold [Israel] accountable" after the killing of the five Al Jazeera staff. A spokesperson for Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer said that the government was "gravely concerned by the repeated targeting of journalists in Gaza." The European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas called on Israel to "provide clear evidence, in the respect of rule of law" with respect to their allegation that Al-Sharif was a Hamas operative, in order "to avoid targeting of journalists".

United Nations

Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres condemned the killing of the journalists and called for an "independent and impartial investigation", according to a statement released by his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric. UNESCO director-general Audrey Azoulay also condemned the attack, while the United Nations' human rights office described it as violating international law. UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said, "The Israeli Army continues to silence voices reporting atrocities from Gaza."

Aftermath

Following his assassination, a pre-written statement, described as Al-Sharif's "last will and testament", was posted on his X account. It read in part, "If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice." The post expressed his grief over not seeing his children grow up and described witnessing the killing of children in Gaza by Israeli bombs. It ended with a plea to "not forget Gaza" and to "not forget me in your sincere prayers for forgiveness and acceptance."

A funeral was held the following morning for the five journalists at Al-Shifa Hospital, attended by hundreds of mourners, with the bodies wrapped in white sheets. Diplomatic relations between Israel and Qatar (Al Jazeera's host country) soured following the attack.

Investigation

The CPJ said that Israel provided no "credible evidence" to support the accusation that Al-Sharif was a Hamas operative. Al Jazeera and media watchdogs accused Israel of using unproven allegations to justify the killing, a tactic the CPJ described as a "smear campaign" to "manufacture consent" for targeting journalists. The lack of transparency and the pattern of journalist deaths raised calls for independent investigations into the strike. The International Criminal Court (ICC) had previously been urged to investigate attacks on journalists in Gaza as potential war crimes, but no specific probe into Al-Sharif's killing was confirmed since his murder.

The Hind Rajab Foundation and Palestinian Centre for Human Rights have said they will submit a complaint to the ICC over the attack that killed Al-Sharif. They accuse those in the chain of command involved in the strike of war crimes and genocide. Those accused include IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, Air Force Commander Tomer Bar, and IDF Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee.

See also

• Executions and assassinations during the Gaza war
• Killing of Ismail al-Ghoul
• Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh
• List of journalists killed in the Gaza war
• War crimes in the Gaza war