Israel's killing of Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza sparks global outrage

ISTANBUL

The killing of six Palestinian journalists, including four from Al Jazeera, in an Israeli strike on Gaza City has sparked a wave of condemnation from governments, international organizations, and press freedom groups.

Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said the deliberate targeting of journalists in Gaza “reveals how these crimes are beyond imagination, amid the inability of the international community and its laws to stop this tragedy,” adding prayers for Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qraiqea, and their colleagues.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei described the attack as “an assassination in cold blood” of Al Jazeera’s entire Gaza team, carried out through a deliberate airstrike on their tent. He said Gazans are being “massacred, starved to death, and targeted in Israeli-American “food traps,” urging immediate global action to halt the “harrowing genocide” and hold those responsible to account.

The UN human rights office condemned what it called a “grave breach of international humanitarian law” by the Israeli military, noting that at least 242 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023. It called on Israel to “respect and protect all civilians, including journalists” and urged “immediate, safe and unhindered access” to Gaza for media workers.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it was “appalled” by the killings of al-Sharif, Qraiqea, and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal.

Gaza’s Government Media Office said the strike on Sunday evening targeted a journalists’ tent near the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in western Gaza City, killing four Al Jazeera staff and two others, and injuring several more. It accused Israel of committing “a full-fledged war crime” aimed at “silencing the truth and concealing evidence of genocide” as part of its plan to occupy Gaza City.

Al Jazeera Media Network strongly denounced the killing as a deliberate and premeditated assassination, squarely blaming the Israeli army and government for the attack. It stressed that its Gaza correspondents had long been subjected to open incitement by senior Israeli officials.

The network described al-Sharif as “one of Gaza’s bravest journalists,” whose killing, along with his colleagues, was part of a systematic campaign to silence the press and conceal the truth ahead of Israel’s planned occupation of Gaza.

In a will written days before his death, al-Sharif said he had dedicated his life to being “a support and a voice” for his people and urged the world not to remain silent over the massacre of Palestinians. He called on people to care for his family, including his young daughter Sham and son Salah, and to “be bridges toward the liberation of the land and its people.”

According to the Gaza Government Media Office, Sunday’s attack brought the total number of journalists killed by Israel in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, to 238.

Israel is facing mounting condemnation for its genocidal war on Gaza, where it has killed more than 61,400 people since October 2023.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for 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.