Silencing The Gaza Witnesses

The recent killing of five Al Jazeera journalists, including the widely known correspondent Anas al-Sharif, in an Israeli strike near Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital is more than another grim statistic in a war that has already claimed thousands of lives.

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It is a direct assault on the principle that journalists as civilians and chroniclers of truth must never be targeted. Israel insists al-Sharif was a Hamas operative posing as a journalist, but has yet to produce evidence that would withstand independent scrutiny. It has become the familiar pattern with Israel: accuse Hamas of sheltering among residential neighbourhoods to justify killing civilians. And to accuse journalists of being Hamas sympathisers to justify their killing. This is something that has also been highlighted by the Committee to Protect Journalists.