On Aug. 10, 2025, the Israeli military killed six journalists—the single deadliest attack on media workers in the nearly two-year Israel-Gaza War. At the time of the airstrike, the reporters were sheltering outside Al-Shifa Hospital, one of the few medical facilities still operating in Gaza.
The targeted assassination claimed the lives of prominent correspondent Anas al-Sharif and four of his Al Jazeera colleagues: Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa. Freelance journalist Mohammad al-Khaldi also perished in the air strike.
Targeting journalists is nothing new for the Israel Defense Forces. However, as NPR reports, “The incident marked the first time during the war that Israel’s military has swiftly claimed responsibility after a journalist was killed in a strike.”
The stark admission is not a sign of contrition. Far from it. It is a deeply cynical attempt to intimidate journalists from covering a fearsome new stage in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
A Deliberate Strategy
More than 200 reporters have been killed since the war began in October 2023. Democracy Now’s Juan Gonzalez recently put that figure in perspective: “That’s more than all the journalists killed in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Afghan War combined.”
Reporting from a war zone is, of course, perilous work. And many journalists have been killed in the crossfire. But Israel’s policy of putting targets on the backs of news workers reeks of depraved indifference. It smacks of the same cruel disregard for human life that uses food and humanitarian aid as a weapon of war.
Days before the targeted assassination of al-Sharif and his colleagues, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that his security cabinet approved a plan for the IDF to occupy Gaza City in what the BBC called a “major escalation.”
During a press conference to challenge what he called “a global campaign of lies” about starvation across Gaza, Netanyahu reversed longstanding prohibitions against international journalists reporting from the enclave. “I’ve ordered, directed the military to bring in foreign journalists.” Adding, “There’s a problem with assuring security, but I think it can be done in a way that is responsible.”
Hours later, Israeli forces assassinated the six journalists while they sheltered in a clearly marked press tent.
Speaking with Democracy Now, Irene Khan, UN special rapporteur on opinion and free expression, described it as “murder.” “It is not killing in the context of war. It is a deliberate strategy to stop independent voices reporting,” Khan said.
Killing the Messenger
Netanyahu’s security concerns for foreign journalists ring hollow. Actions speak louder than words.
In a widely circulated statement, the Al Jazeera network mourned its coworkers and praised their heroic efforts. “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.”
Israeli officials sought to undermine lead reporter al-Sharif’s credibility with unsupported assertions of his ties to Hamas—allegations that Western news outlets have noted while reporting.
In response, the Committee to Project Journalists categorically rejected IDF claims that al-Sharif was the head of a Hamas cell responsible for attacking Israeli soldiers and civilians. “Israel has a longstanding, documented pattern of accusing journalists of being terrorists without providing any credible proof,” the CPJ wrote.
Not mincing words, Al-Jazeera managing editor Mohamed Maowad said of Israel’s campaign against Gaza journalists: “The pattern is clear: degrading, delegitimating, smearing and then killing.”
Weak at Best
In the days following the deadly assault, international bodies and media groups condemned Israel for targeting journalists on the ground in Gaza.
Speaking through a spokesman, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “gravely concerned” and echoed a call by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for an “independent and impartial investigation into these latest killings.”
Meanwhile, from the West Bank to Washington, D.C., protesters took to the streets outside news organizations demanding accountability for this brazen assault on press freedom.
D.C. organizer, Hazami Barmada, highlighted the role U.S. news outlets play in manufacturing “public consent for the murder of these journalists … by making excuses for the Israeli government to target and to kill them.”
Speaking with the CBC, Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists, claimed that the murder of al-Sharif and his colleagues is a war crime.
Citing CPJ’s public concerns over the Al Jazeera correspondent’s safety weeks before his assassination, Ginsberg lamented the international community’s response to Israel’s targeting of journalists, characterizing it as “weak at best, silent at worst.”
It’s said that journalism is the first draft of history. In the absence of independent reporting from the ground in Gaza, the impunity enjoyed by the occupier will mark the history of our time.
This MFP Voices opinion essay reflects the personal opinion of its author(s). The column does not necessarily represent the views of the Mississippi Free Press, its staff or board members. To submit an opinion for the MFP Voices section, send up to 1,200 words and sources fact-checking the included information to voices@mississippifreepress.org. We welcome a wide variety of viewpoints.
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