By Atoyebi Nike
An Israeli airstrike in Gaza City late Sunday killed seven people, including at least four journalists from Al Jazeera, in what the network denounced as a targeted attempt to silence coverage of the war.
Among the dead was correspondent Anas Al-Sharif, a prominent reporter who had documented the conflict from inside Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces accused Al-Sharif of leading a Hamas cell, a claim he had repeatedly denied, calling himself an independent journalist committed to “reporting the truth.” Fellow journalist Mohammed Qreiqeh and photojournalists Ibrahim Al Thaher and Mohamed Nofal were also killed.
The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the killings, saying Israel has a “documented pattern” of labeling journalists as militants without credible proof. The United Nations had also dismissed previous Israeli allegations against Al-Sharif as “unfounded.”
Since the war began nearly two years ago, CPJ says 186 journalists have been killed, 178 of them Palestinians. Israel has barred international media from independently entering Gaza, leaving local reporters as the primary witnesses to the conflict’s toll.
