'The truth has died': global fury as Israeli strike kills journalists

The death of the prominent Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif in an Israeli airstrike that also killed four of his colleagues prompted global condemnation yesterday as hundreds of mourners carried the victims' bodies through the streets of Gaza City.

- Malak A Tantesh Gaza Lorenzo Tondo Jerusalem

Sharif, one of Al Jazeera's most recognisable faces in Gaza, was killed in a tent for journalists outside al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Sunday night.

Seven people died in the attack, including the Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa, according to the Qatar-based broadcaster.

The Palestinian journalist Wadi Abu Al-Saud, who was near the tent when the Israeli strike occurred, said the attack happened at 11.22pm just after he had finished filming his latest news bulletin.

Speaking to the Guardian at the site yesterday, he said: "I entered the tent opposite theirs, raised my phone to make a call, and then the explosion occurred. A piece of shrapnel hit my phone. I looked back and saw people burning in flames.

"I tried to extinguish them. Anas and the others had died instantly."

In two videos of the aftermath of the strike, Saud can be seen carrying the bodies of those killed.

"From now on, I will not continue the coverage. I will return to my life as a citizen. The truth has died, and the coverage has ended," he added.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) admitted carrying out the attack, claiming Sharif was the leader of a Hamas cell responsible for rocket attacks against Israel - an allegation that Al Jazeera and Sharif had previously dismissed as baseless.

It was the first time during the war that Israel's military has swiftly claimed responsibility after a journalist was killed in a strike.

Pro-Israel advocates on social media hailed the killing of Sharif and posted photos handed out by the IDF of photographs the journalist took with the former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar before the Hamas attack on 7 October.