𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Al Jazeera said an Israeli airstrikes killed its correspondent Anas al-Sharif and three other of its staffers in Gaza City.

The broadcaster said Al-Sharif, 28, one of the channel’s most prominent voices in Gaza, was killed alongside reporter Mohammed Qreiqeh, and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal “in a targeted Israeli strike on a tent housing journalists in Gaza City.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists warned last month that it was gravely concerned for al-Sharif’s safety as he was being “targeted by an Israeli military smear campaign” and that the unfounded accusations “represent an effort to manufacture consent to kill Al-Sharif.”

The director of Shifa hospital, Dr Muhammad Abu Salmiya, told The Independent that in total seven were killed in strike which hit a tent where they were sheltering within the Shifa medical complex in Gaza City .

“The Al Jazeera journalists’ tent in front of Al-Shifa Medical Complex was bombed. Anas Al-Sharif, Mohammed Qreiqeh, and four journalists working with them were killed, along with another bystander.”

“Part of the hospital’s emergency department was also damaged. They arrived at the emergency room with severe injuries.”

“The tent was directly bombed and they arrived at the emergency department with severe injuries,” he added.

Israel’s military claimed in a statement late on Sunday that al-Sharif had “posed as a journalist” and alleged he was with Hamas militant group.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has repeatedly called for international protection of al-Sharif saying that he had been “a key source of news from Gaza for international audiences since the war began more than 650 days ago.”

“We are deeply alarmed by the repeated threats made by Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee against Al Jazeera’s Gaza correspondent Anas Al-Sharif and call on the international community to protect him,” said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah.

“This is not the first time Al-Sharif has been targeted by the Israeli military, but the danger to his life is now acute. Israel has killed at least six Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza during this war. These latest unfounded accusations represent an effort to manufacture consent to kill Al-Sharif.”

This is a breaking story, more to follow…