ISRAEL KILLS 5 JOURNALISTS

ISRAELI airstrikes have killed five journalists, including one of Gaza's best-known TV reporter personalities of the war.

- BY CHRIS HUGHES and ASHLEY COWBURN

Anas al-Sharif, 28, was one of the Strip's most recognisable media people, reporting on the war for Al Jazeera for the past 22 months.

Four of his colleagues died – including correspondent Mohammed Qreigeh, 33, who made his last report shortly before he was killed.

News assistant Mohammed Noufal and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher and Moamen Aliwa – were also victims of the strike on their tent outside a Gaza hospital.

Qatar-based Al Jazeera called the strike a “targeted assassination” and said: “Anas and his colleagues were among the last remaining voices from within Gaza, providing the world with unfiltered, on-the-ground coverage of the devastating realities endured by its people.”

The Israeli Defence Forces claimed Anas led a Hamas cell, which Al Jazeera denied.

Director Salah Negm said: “This is another of the crimes to be added to the list of war crimes that Israel has committed. They were reporting objectively for Al Jazeera.”