Israeli strike wipes out Gaza’s last frontline voices, kills journalists; funerals held

Muslim Network TV News Desk

GAZA CITY, Palestine (MNTV) – Israeli airstrikes have killed six journalists in Gaza City, including five working for the Al Jazeera Media Network, in what press freedom groups are calling a targeted attempt to erase the last independent voices documenting the war’s toll.

The attack late Sunday struck a tent outside al-Shifa Hospital, where reporters had been camped to cover the escalating bombardment.

Hospital staff confirmed that the dead include Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qraiqea, cameramen Ibrahim Zaher and Moamen Aliwa, and assistant Mohammed Noufal. A sixth victim, Mohammad al-Khaldi, founder of a widely watched YouTube news channel, was also killed.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), at least 186 journalists and media workers have been confirmed killed since Israel launched its offensive on Gaza in October 2023.

It is becoming the deadliest conflict for media workers since CPJ began record-keeping in 1992.

Palestinian Government Media Office in Gaza places the figure far higher, saying Israel has killed nearly 270 journalists over the past 22 months.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF), citing its own verification, said last month that more than 200 journalists have been killed in Gaza, with dozens more wounded or missing.

Al Jazeera said the slain staff were among the last journalists able to broadcast from Gaza City after nearly two years of siege and bombardment.

“Anas and his colleagues 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,” the network said.

Shortly before his death, al-Sharif, 28, a father of two, posted a video on X showing what he called “intense” Israeli missile strikes in Gaza’s eastern and southern neighborhoods. Moments later, his position outside al-Shifa Hospital was obliterated.

The Israeli military later claimed, without providing evidence, that al-Sharif was “head of a Hamas terrorist cell.” Palestinian journalists have routinely faced such accusations from Israel, which rights groups say are aimed at discrediting their reporting and justifying lethal force against them.

Threats and final testament

Al-Sharif had already been publicly threatened. In July, Israeli army spokesperson Avichai Adraee posted a video warning him by name, a move condemned by press advocates as incitement.

In an interview with CPJ weeks later, al-Sharif admitted he lived “with the feeling that I could be bombed and martyred at any moment.”

In a message written in April and posted to his account after his death, al-Sharif said he had “never once hesitated to convey the truth” despite losing his father and home to Israeli airstrikes last year.

“Allah may bear witness against those who stayed silent… and whose hearts were unmoved by the scattered remains of our children and women,” he wrote.

The killings came just days after Israel’s security cabinet approved a military plan to seize Gaza City and forcibly remove its nearly one million residents. Officials avoided using the word “occupy” in public statements, reportedly to sidestep legal obligations under international law.

Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of al-Shifa Hospital, accused Israel of eliminating the journalists to prepare for “a major massacre… this time without sound or image.”

RSF condemned what it called “the acknowledged murder by the Israeli army” of al-Sharif and his colleagues. “We strongly and angrily condemn this killing, which the army has openly admitted,” the group told AFP.

CPJ chief executive Jodie Ginsberg said the attack “fits a decades-long pattern in which Israel kills journalists.” The National Press Club in Washington and the Freedom of the Press Foundation both demanded independent, international investigations and urgent measures to protect journalists in Gaza.

Funerals for the five Al Jazeera staff and al-Khaldi were held Monday amid continued shelling, drawing thousands of mourners.

For many Palestinians, their deaths represent not only a human loss but also the extinguishing of some of the last independent witnesses able to broadcast Gaza’s reality to the world.

A few hours before Israel assassinated five journalists, Ambassador Dr. Riyad Mansour offered the Security Council to take 100 independent journalists to Gaza and report independently and describe the situation in the Strip to confirm lies by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mansour said, “If Netanyahu is so sure of this global conspiracy about a ‘lie,’ let him prove it. I invite you; he should allow you to go to the Gaza Strip and see exactly what is happening there. Take journalists with you so that you can verify exactly what is happening in Gaza”

Journalist fatality figures due to Israeli strikes in Gaza 

*These discrepancies reflect differences in methodology and classification. CPJ reports only confirmed cases across Gaza. RSF highlights deaths explicitly tied to journalistic activity. Palestinian Media Office in Gaza includes broader counts from the enclave, often including affiliated media workers.