Israeli airstrikes kill five journalists

WHILE GAZA SUFFERS MORE MISERY

- BY CHRIS HUGHES and ASHLEY COWBURN

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

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 it 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.