Israel air strike kills five Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza

A prominent Al Jazeera journalist, who had previously been threatened by Israel, was killed along with four colleagues in an Israeli air strike on Sunday in an attack condemned by journalists and rights groups.

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Israel’s military said it targeted and killed Anas al-Sharif, alleging he had headed a Hamas militant cell and was involved in rocket attacks on Israel.

Al Jazeera rejected the assertion and before his death, Sharif had also rejected earlier claims by Israel that he was connected to Hamas.

Sharif, 28, was among a group of four Al Jazeera journalists and an assistant who died in a strike on a tent near al-Shifa Hospital in eastern Gaza City, Gaza officials and Al Jazeera said.

An official at the hospital said two other people were also killed in the strike.

A sixth journalist, Mohammad Al-Khaldi, a local freelance reporter, was also killed in the airstrike, medics at al-Shifa Hospital said yesterday.

Calling Sharif “one of Gaza's bravest journalists’, Al Jazeera said the attack was a “desperate attempt to silence voices in anticipation of the occupation of Gaza”

The other journalists killed were Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal, Al Jazeera said.

Yesterday, people gathered at Sheikh Radwan Cemetery in the heart of the Gaza Strip to mourn the journalists. Friends, colleagues and relatives embraced and consoled one another, many wiping away tears as they bid farewell.