Anas al-Sharif Unyielding Voice for Palestinian Justice Will Not Be Silenced

Since October 7, over 200 journalists have lost their lives due to Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. On Sunday night, six Palestinian journalists, five of whom were from Al Jazeera, were killed when an Israeli strike hit their tent in Gaza City, near al-Shifa hospital. The deceased included Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, along with two cameramen, Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal, and an assistant named Moamen Aliwa. Additionally, a freelance journalist, Mohammed Al-Khaldi, who sometimes collaborated with local media, succumbed to his injuries. The Israeli army acknowledged having targeted Anas al-Sharif, a prominent local correspondent, claiming—without providing substantial evidence—that he was the leader of a Hamas terrorist cell who ‘posed as a journalist’ and was responsible for sophisticated rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and IDF forces. This accusation from the IDF was met with unprecedented scepticism around the World, as if a shift had occurred; global reactions and disbelief were palpable, even though some mainstream outlets like BBC and CNN casually echoed Israeli propaganda to rationalise the killings, while remaining cautious about condemning Israel and the ongoing systematic slaughter of journalists and civilians in Gaza.

It appears that people worldwide have grown weary of  Israel’s ‘Hasbara’ (propaganda) and are fed up with the harrowing images of children, women, and journalists who have either starved to death or been killed by the Israeli occupying forces. Israel, which still seems to think it can manipulate perceptions at will, is now being pressed to provide evidence for their claims, as no one, apart from a much isolated US—be it governments, NGOs, or institutions—trusts the far-fetched narrative put forth by Netanyahu’s administration.

In October 2024, the Israeli military disclosed the identities of al-Sharif and five other journalists whom it accused of being operatives for Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Among these journalists was Hossam Shabat, a freelance journalist for Al Jazeera Mubasher, who was tragically assassinated on March 24, 2025. Another individual on the ‘blacklist’ was Anas al-Sharif. Reporters Without Borders condemned this assassination, highlighting Anas al-Sharif as one of the most renowned journalists in the Gaza Strip, serving as the voice for the suffering inflicted by Israel on the Palestinian people of Gaza. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has denounced the killing, labeling it a ‘serious violation of international humanitarian law.’ The EU has also expressed its condemnation regarding the ‘killing’ of Al Jazeera journalists.

The funeral was held on Monday in Gaza City. A group of men carried the bodies of the six deceased to their final resting place at the Sheikh Redouane Cemetery. Al Jazeera has denounced the killing of its correspondents, describing Israel’s actions as “a desperate attempt to silence voices that oppose the Israeli occupation.” The network reported that since the beginning of Israel’s offensive, which came as a response to the attack carried out by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on October 7, 2023, ten of its correspondents have lost their lives at the hands of the Israeli army in Gaza.

On Monday evening, Al Jazeera employees came together for a memorial at the network’s headquarters in Doha. Among those present was Wael al-Dahdouh, the Gaza bureau chief, who tragically lost his wife and children in Israeli airstrikes, and cameraman Fadi Al Wahidi, who became paralysed after being shot in the neck. “Each time we lose a loved one and a colleague, we lose a piece of this journalistic family. It’s an incredibly difficult and painful experience,” Wael al-Dahdouh told AFP. Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN refugee agency (UNRWA), has also expressed his horror, stating, “The Israeli army continues to silence voices that report on the atrocities occurring in Gaza.”

IMAGE: Palestinians pray over the bodies of journalists, including Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohamed Qreiqeh, who were killed in an Israeli air strike, during their funeral outside Gaza City’s Shifa hospital complex, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (Source: Jehad Alshrafi, AP)

During the numerous interviews, Anas Al-Sherif, the prominent journalist from Gaza, gave to the press, he unequivocally indicated that he was the target of an incitement campaign led by Avichay Adraee,  a Colonel in the IDF who serves as the head of the Arab media division of the Israeli army Spokesperson’s Unit. He also received countless threats from fake social media accounts. During one interview, he explained how the IDF has been waging a campaign against him to obstruct his coverage of events in northern Gaza, while also asserting that the IDF has made several attempts on his life, all of which he survived. The Israeli army has repeatedly acted on its threats against Anas Al-Sherif, and on December 11, 2023, they bombed his home, resulting in the death of his father. Al-Sherif also mentioned that his family received three threatening calls from the Israeli military, urging him to stop his reporting, yet he has remained resolute in documenting Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza.

“Despite these threats, I still consider my work as my duty, to make the voice and suffering of my people heard,” said Anas Al-Sherif

Al-Sharif was widely hailed as the “Voice of Gaza,” and his assassination comes after months of incitement against him and ends his media coverage in the run-up to an expected Israeli invasion of Gaza City. Aware that he would remain a target of the Israeli military, Al-Sharif wrote his last will in advance, which was published on his social media accounts after his assassination.

These are his final words to the World and his family:

“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. First of all, peace be upon you and may Allah’s mercy and blessings be upon you.Allah knows that I have given all my efforts and strength to be a support and a voice for my people, ever since I opened my eyes to life in the alleys and streets of the Jabalia refugee camp. My hope was that Allah would prolong my life so that I could return with my family and loved ones to our hometown, Asqalan (Al-Majdal), occupied by Israel. But Allah’s will prevailed, and His decree is final.I have experienced the pain in all its details, I have tasted suffering and grief many times, but I have never hesitated to speak the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification, so that Allah may testify against those who remained silent, those who accepted our massacre, those who stifled our breath and whose hearts remained indifferent to the scattered remains of our children and women, without doing anything to stop the massacre our people have been suffering for more than a year and a half.I entrust to you Palestine, the crown jewel of the Muslim world, the beating heart of every free person in this world. I entrust to you its people, its innocent and unjust children, who never had time to dream or live in safety and peace. Their pure bodies were crushed under thousands of tons of Israeli bombs and missiles, torn to pieces and scattered over the walls.I urge you not to let chains silence you, nor borders hold you back. Be bridges to the liberation of the land and its people, until the sun of dignity and freedom rises over our stolen homeland. (Anas al-Sharif)

Since October 2023, Swiss-based NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has filed four complaints with the International Criminal Court (ICC) calling for investigations into what it calls war crimes committed by the Israeli army against journalists in Gaza. Under Resolution 2222 of 2015 on the protection of journalists in armed conflict, the United Nations Security Council has a duty to convene urgently following this latest extrajudicial killing by the Israeli army. Under Article 79 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, journalists are explicitly protected as civilians in a war zone. Resolution 1738 (2006) / adopted by the Security Council at its 5613th meeting, on 23 December 2006, also condemns intentional attacks against journalists, media professionals and associated personnel.

DOCUMENT: United Nations  Resolution 2222 of 2015 on the protection of journalists (United Nations Digital Library)
UN Resolution 2222 of 2015 on the protection of journalists

The targeting of these incredibly courageous journalists occurs at a pivotal moment, just days after Israel revealed its intention to fully invade Gaza. This seems too coincidental, and many journalists, ourselves included, suspect that this deliberate assault on respected Palestinian reporters is closely linked to Israel’s upcoming invasion of the coastal region. It fits into a long-standing trend of targeted killings of journalists in Gaza, who serve as the sole connection to the outside world for disseminating information, particularly in light of Israel’s ongoing prohibition on foreign journalists entering Gaza. The timing of the murders of Anas Al-Sherif and his colleagues aligns perfectly with Israel’s plans to entirely occupy Gaza, beginning with the northern city, as if to convey that the Israeli military and government wish to prevent the invasion and the forced displacement of Gaza’s civilian population from being reported.

Recent statistics from Brown University reveal that no military in history has killed more journalists than the Israeli occupation. Since the conflict escalated on October 7, 2023, at least 242 Palestinian journalists have died at the hands of Israeli forces, surpassing even the deadliest conflicts like World War II. Investigations by ARIJ show that Israeli drones can detect ‘PRESS’ vests in Gaza. The French newspaper Le Monde reports that Israeli forces frequently use phone threats to intimidate journalists in the occupied territories. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) states that two-thirds of the fatalities were due to Israeli airstrikes, with many resulting from targeted drone strikes. Both the UN and press freedom organisations confirm that most of these journalists, clearly marked as ‘PRESS’, have been systematically targeted and effectively assassinated. This marks the first time an occupying force has completely isolated a war zone from international press. Despite this, many journalists from Western mainstream media still refuse to characterise these assassinations of journalists as war crimes and continue to support the narrative of the Israeli occupation, attempting to justify these tragic killings.

IMAGE:. Number of Journalists and Media Workers Killed, By War (Source: The Watson School of International and Public Affairs/ Brown University)

The Hunt for Anas Al-Sharif’s Killers has already started

For the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), this incident was more than just another tragedy in the ongoing war against the press. It represented a blatant criminal act—a war crime and a component of a larger genocidal agenda—and it called for a precise, focused legal reaction. The recent Article 15 Communication submitted to the International Criminal Court was a collaborative effort between HRF and PCHR. HRF concentrated its investigation on the command structure and operational choices that resulted in Al-Sharif’s death, while PCHR contributed its thorough documentation of other Al Jazeera journalists who were killed in Gaza—cases that exhibit a similar pattern of premeditated and intentional targeting. PCHR’s records detail the assassinations of Hussam Shabat, Ismail Al-Ghoul, Ahmed Al-Louh, Hamza Wael Al-Dahdouh, and Samer Abu Daqa, among others—all journalists labelled as “terrorists” by Israel prior to their elimination in targeted attacks. These instances illustrate that Al-Sharif’s death was not an isolated incident but rather part of a systematic policy.

HRF investigators pieced together the strike, tracing the path from when a drone camera focused on Al-Sharif’s location to the moment the missile struck. Using operational patterns, signals intelligence reports, and expert military analysis, the foundation uncovered the chain of command responsible for the assassination. According to the HRF report, the Chain Command includes:

• Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir – IDF Chief of the General Staff
• Maj.-Gen. Tomer Bar – Commander of the Israeli Air Force
• Maj.-Gen. Yaniv Asor – Southern Command Commander
• Brig.-Gen. Yossi Sariel – Former Commander of Unit 8200 (Israel’s signals intelligence branch)
• General A. : Current Commander of Unit 8200
• Palmachim Airbase Commander – Name undisclosed
• “Black Snake” Squadron Commander – Name undisclosed
• Col. Avichay Adraee – IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, Arab Media Division, responsible for a sustained smear campaign against Al-Sharif

Based on their investigation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is positioned at the top of the political pyramid, who managed and advocated for a strategy designed to eliminate journalists amid Israel’s anticipated offensive on Gaza. Continue reading their report here.

In a climate where the struggle for perception is vital, silencing journalists like Anas al-Sharif or Mohammed Qreiqeh means denying the world a firsthand perspective of the realities faced by the civilians in Gaza daily. Israel’s urgent effort to control the narrative to obscure its genocidal behaviour and crimes necessitates a counterbalance which is essential to maintain the global community’s awareness and to hold accountable a nation and its leaders who are undeniably united in their mission to annihilate a people, a community, a culture, and a nation that yearns to take its first breath and embrace long-deserved freedom and justice.

Anas al-Sharif can now rest in peace, having courageously and skillfully completed his mission to report on his beloved Gaza, a sacrifice that embodies the dignity, professionalism and bravery so often absent in the World of Media.

IMAGE: A Syrian journalist holds a photo of the late Palestinian journalist and Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif during a protest against the killing of journalists in the Gaza Strip, in Idlib, northwest Syria, August 11, 2025 (Source: EPA/AHMAD FALLAHA)

Dr Binoy Kampmark reports for Middle East Monitor…

Slaying and censoring the journalists: The murder of Anas al-Sharif

“Assassination,” wrote George Bernard Shaw in The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet, “is the extreme form of censorship”.  Such extremism visited Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif and his colleagues in Gaza City late on 10 August.  Resting in a tent located outside the main gate of Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital, he was killed alongside Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa, and freelance reporter Mohammed al-Khaldi.

Palestinian journalist Wadi Abu al-Saud recalls the drone attack taking place at 11.22 pm.  Having entered the tent opposite, he had raised his phone to make a call when an explosion occurred.  “A piece of shrapnel hit my phone. I looked back and saw people burning in flames.  I tried to extinguish them. Anas and the others had died instantly from the airstrike.”  In two subsequent videos, al-Saud vows to “return to my life as a citizen.  The truth has died and the coverage has ended.”

IDF international spokesman Lt. Colonel Nadav Shoshani, straining verisimilitude, claimed that intelligence obtained prior to the strike proved that “Sharif was an active Hamas military wing operative at the time of his elimination”.  The reporter must have been frightfully busy then, able to juggle his tasks with Al Jazeera, filing news bulletins while playing the ambitious militant.  But distinctions are meaningless for Shoshani, who went on to accuse the slain journalist of receiving “a salary from the Hamas terror group and terrorist supporters, Al-Jazeera, at the same time.”

Evidence is typically sketchy, but the Lt. Colonel was untroubled, as the “declassified portion of our intelligence on al-Sharif” was merely small relative to the whole picture.  That picture, the IDF contends, revealed Sharif’s credentials as leader of a rocket-launching squad alongside membership of the Nukhba Force company in Hamas’s East Jabalia Battalion.  This proved far from convincing to Muhammed Shehada, analyst at the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, who made the solid, pertinent observation that al-Sharif’s “entire daily routine was standing in front of a camera from morning to evening.”

Particularly troubling in this killing is that the IDF seemed to be laying the groundwork for justified assassination last month, when army spokesman Avichai Adraee reshared a video on social media making the accusation that al-Sharif was a member of Hamas’s military wing.  This proved chilling for the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of expression, Irene Khan.  “Fears for al-Sharif’s safety are well-founded as there is growing evidence that journalists in Gaza have been targeted and killed by the Israeli army on the basis of unsubstantiated claims that they are Hamas terrorists.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists was suitably perturbed by Adraee’s remarks to issue a demand last month that the “international community” protect al-Sharif.  “This is not the first time Al-Sharif has been targeted by the Israeli military, but the danger to his life is now acute,” said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah.  “Israel has killed at least six Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza during the war.  These latest unfounded accusations represent an effort to manufacture consent to kill Al-Sharif.”

The other journalists killed in the strike are not deemed worthy of mention by the IDF, affirming the tendency in Israeli military doctrine to kill those around the designated target as a perfectly tolerable practice.  Again, the rulebook of international humanitarian war is discarded in favour of a normalised murderousness.

The rulebook has also been abandoned regarding journalists working in Gaza, conforming to a pattern of indifference to distinctions between militants or civilians in Israel’s sanguinary targeting.  By December 2023, the Committee to Protect Journalists was already declaring that the war in the Strip had been the deadliest ever recorded by the organisation for press members.  (The number currently stands at over 190; the global total for 2020-23 was 165.)  “Israel is murdering the messengers,” concludes Qudah. “Israel wiped out an entire news crew.  It has made no claims that any of the other journalists were terrorists.  That’s murder.  Plain and simple.”

In a statement, Al Jazeera Media Network described the killings as “yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom.”  The order to kill al-Sharif, “one of Gaza’s bravest journalists, and his colleagues, is a desperate attempt to silence the voices exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza.”

The murder of al-Sharif and his colleagues by Israeli forces constituted the effective wiping out of Al Jazeera’s team, one of the few able to offer consistent, unsmothered coverage about the IDF’s remorseless campaign in Gaza.  Since the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas, Israel has prohibited foreign reporters from entering Gaza except under strict supervision by the Israeli military.  Those accompanied by the IDF have been at the mercy of Israeli selectiveness as to where to go and barred from speaking to Palestinians.

In a note to be published in the event of his death, al-Sharif stated that he “lived the pain in all its details”, tasting “grief and loss repeatedly”.  This did not deter him from conveying “the truth as it is, without distortion or misrepresentation, hoping that God would witness those who remained silent, those who accepted our killing, and those who suffocated our very breaths.”  He also reflected on what images of sheer barbarity had failed to do, with “the mangled bodies of our children and women” failing to move hearts or stop massacres.  In dying along with his colleagues, al-Sharif had been butchered in a climate of hyper-normalised violence, thinly veiled by the barbaric justifications of Israeli national security.

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Source: https://21stcenturywire.com/2025/08/12/anas-al-sharif-unyielding-voice-for-palestinian-justice-will-not-be-silenced/