Five Al Jazeera journalists, including well-known Gaza correspondent Anas al-Sharif, have been killed in an Israeli air strike near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
The broadcaster said al-Sharif, reporter Mohammed Qreiqeh, and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa were inside a designated press tent at the hospital’s main gate when the strike hit.
Al Jazeera called it a targeted attack on press freedom.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed it had aimed at al-Sharif, alleging he was a senior Hamas operative involved in planning rocket attacks.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said Israel has not provided proof to support its claims and described the incident as part of a repeated pattern of unsubstantiated accusations following the killing of reporters.
Al Jazeera’s managing editor said the team were not near combat zones and accused Israel of trying to silence coverage from Gaza, where foreign media are not allowed to report independently.
In verified footage after the strike, bodies of the journalists were seen being carried from the site.
Seven people were killed in total, according to the broadcaster. The deaths follow earlier warnings from the UN and press freedom groups that al-Sharif was at risk.
Similar accusations of Hamas links were made by Israel against other Al Jazeera journalists killed in previous strikes, which the network has denied.
Since the start of Israel’s offensive in October 2023, the CPJ says 186 journalists have been killed in Gaza.
Local reporters face extreme danger, with limited food supplies and constant air strikes.
International media outlets, including the BBC, Reuters, AP, and AFP, recently expressed urgent concern over the survival of their Gaza-based teams.
Israel’s current military campaign began after Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023 killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 251 hostages. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says over 61,000 have been killed in the territory since the offensive began.