The killing of Anas al-Sharif is part of a ‘deadly pattern’

Cameraman Mohammed Noufal, correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, cameraman Ibrahim Zaher and correspondent Anas al-Sharif all died instantly. Six journalists were killed in the attack that night.

Al-Sharif, a 28-year-old father of two, became one of the besieged enclave’s most famous correspondents. His boyish face and neatly combed hair, often at odds with the horrors he was relentlessly covering, faltered only once when he broke down live on air while reporting on the starvation of the Palestinian people in Gaza. Onlookers encouraged him to keep working, calling him the “voice” of the strip.

On 24 July, Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military Arabic spokesperson, branded al-Sharif a long-time operative of Hamas’s military wing. Specifically, he accused him of being a member of Al-Qassam Brigades since 2013, and said he had since moved during the war “to work for the most criminal and offensive channel”. Israel has failed to provided concrete and credible evidence for this claim.

The Committee to Protect Journalists described Adraee’s statements as “unfounded accusations” that “represent an effort to manufacture consent to kill al-Sharif”.

Jon Williams, executive director of journalism charity the Rory Peck Trust, condemned the air of impunity that surrounds Israel. “Not in a single case of a Palestinian journalist being killed by Israel, has anybody ever been held to account, before or after 7 October 2023.”

According to the UN, 242 journalists have been killed since the outbreak of Israel’s war on Gaza, following Hamas’s attacks on 7 October, including three journalists in Lebanon and two in Israel, making it the deadliest conflict for journalists since records began.

The war on Gaza has eroded conventions on press protection in war. International humanitarian law shields journalists as civilians in war and therefore considers their targeting a war crime. With so many journalists being killed with impunity it risks normalising the notion that journalists are fair game in conflict.

With foreign press barred from entering Gaza to report, except on embeds organised by the Israeli military, and so many Palestinian journalists killed, the ability to gather first-hand, verified information is dwindling. Actors, either state or non-state, create powerful narratives unchecked, and propaganda thrives. As each death shrinks first-hand coverage, misinformation fills the gap.

Reporters Sans Frontières, an independent French non-profit organisation that safeguards the right to freedom of information, believes that stronger enforcement of international law needs to be implemented, with thorough independent investigations put in place and automatic war crimes enquiries when journalists die in conflict zones. The precedent in Gaza will deter frontline reporting elsewhere – unless accountability mechanisms strengthen.

To date, the CPJ has documented 26 murders in Gaza and Lebanon – cases in which international investigations and IDF public messaging declared deliberate targeting of journalists.

“What we’re documenting are not claims and are not hearsay. These are deadly patterns and horrific realities that are happening now, as the world watches,” Sara Qudah, CPJ regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, told The Observer. “Our chance to change and uphold the international law is now, before it’s too late, before the massacre takes more lives, before journalism is doomed, and killing journalists becomes the norm.”

In the past 22 months, hundreds of journalists from local and international outlets have been killed in Gaza, Israel and Lebanon. Before the recent targeting of al-Sharif, Al Jazeera’s Hamza Dahdouh — son of bureau chief Wael Dahdouh — and video journalist Mustafa Thuraya died when an Israeli missile struck their car in al-Mawasi last January. They had been heading to interview residents in what was then deemed a safe zone. Israel later alleged, without evidence, that both were members of terrorist groups.

On 13 October 2023, five days into the war, Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was killed when Israeli tank fire struck a group of clearly identified reporters in south Lebanon. Colleagues from Reuters, AFP and Al Jazeera were covering clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces. A Human Rights Watch investigation concluded that an Israeli drone circled the group 11 times before the attack. AFP’s 29-year-old Christina Assi was critically wounded and lost a leg. No Israeli soldier has faced accountability.

“If we don’t put an end to these atrocities and hold Israel accountable then we have failed humanity and all our fallen colleagues,” Assi told The Observer.

“Media organisations need to stop copy pasting Israeli press releases, which have been proven to be misleading and fake countless times. ‘Israel says’ isn’t journalism. Israel executed all these journalists with full confidence that their deaths would be ignored.”

The rate of killing in Israel’s war on Gaza has forced almost every journalist working there to either write their own obituaries or leave a message to be published posthumously.

In a post published on X after his death, al-Sharif wrote: “If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice… I gave every effort and all my strength to be a support and a voice for my people… do not forget Gaza.”

Photograph by Bashar Taleb/AFP