UPDATE 2 - Israeli airstrike kills 2 Al Jazeera correspondents in Gaza City

​​​​​​​ADDS DETAILS, REVISES DECK, LEDE

By Rania Abu Shamala​​​​​​​

ISTANBUL (AA) - Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohamed Qraiqea were killed Sunday, along with three other Al Jazeera journalists, in an Israeli strike targeting a journalists’ tent near the Al-Shifa Hospital in western Gaza City, according to the Gaza Media Office.

The Qatar-based channel quoted the director of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza who said, “Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohamed Qraiqea were martyred in an Israeli strike on their tent,” without providing details.

The channel later confirmed that al-Sharif and Qraiqea were killed in an Israeli strike.

Al Jazeera Media Network early Monday condemned the “planned” assassination of its correspondents and cameramen in the Gaza Strip, calling it “a desperate attempt to silence voices ahead of the occupation of Gaza.”

“The order to kill Anas al-Sharif, one of Gaza’s bravest journalists, and his colleagues is a desperate attempt to silence voices ahead of the occupation of Gaza,” it said.

Al Jazeera’s statement noted that “many Israeli army officials repeatedly incited and called for targeting Anas al-Sharif and his colleagues,” as it held “the occupation army and its government responsible for targeting and assassinating its team.”

The statement added that “the assassination of our correspondents by the Israeli occupation forces is another blatant and deliberate attack on press freedom.”

The Gaza Media Office announced in a statement that the number of journalists killed since the start of Israel’s genocide in Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, has risen to 237, following the killing of al-Sharif and Qraiqea, along with three other journalists.

It identified the other journalists killed as photojournalists Ibrahim Dahir and Moumin Alaywa and an assistant photojournalist Mohammed Noufal.

“The assassination was carried out with premeditation and deliberation, through a deliberate, intentional, and direct targeting of the journalists’ tent in the vicinity of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. This heinous crime also resulted in the injury of several other fellow journalists,” it added

The Director of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, told Anadolu that the deaths from the strike on the tent in front of the complex’s gate have risen to seven, including five journalists.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army admitted in a statement to killing al-Sharif in Gaza City, while ignoring the killing of Qraiqea and the three other journalists in the same strike.

In his will, which he requested be published after his death, Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif wrote: “This is my will, and my final message. If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.”

“Allah knows that I gave all the effort and strength I had to be a support and a voice for my people, ever since I opened my eyes to life in the alleys and streets of Jabalia refugee camp,” he said. “I have lived pain in all its forms, and tasted grief and loss many times. Yet I never hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification, hoping that Allah would bear witness against those who remained silent, those who accepted our killing, those who suffocated our breath, and whose hearts were unmoved by the scattered bodies of our children and women, and who did not stop the massacre our people have been subjected to for more than a year and a half.”

Israel is facing mounting condemnation for its genocidal war on Gaza, where it has killed more than 61,000 victims since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave and brought it to the verge of famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.​​​​​​

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.