As a ceasefire in Gaza took maintain in January, Anas Al-Sharif started eradicating his protecting gear reside on tv, piece by piece, whereas a jubilant crowd cheered, hoping the day marked the finish of the struggling of 2 million Palestinians in the enclave.
Nearly seven months later, Israel killed the Al Jazeera journalist and 4 of his colleagues in a strike in Gaza City.
One of the most well-known Palestinian journalists in Gaza – and one of dozens to be killed by Israel throughout the war – Al-Sharif’s loss of life has ignited worldwide condemnation and calls for accountability.
The 28-year-old rose to prominence as the face of the Gaza story for thousands and thousands whereas Israel has blocked worldwide media retailers from accessing the territory. Little identified earlier than the war, he shortly was a family identify in the Arab world for his each day protection of the battle and its humanitarian toll.
His reviews offered first-hand accounts of essential moments in the battle, together with the short-lived ceasefires in the territory, the launch of Israeli hostages and harrowing tales of the hunger which have shocked the world.
Al Jazeera recruited Al-Sharif in December 2023 after his social media footage of Israeli strikes in his hometown of Jabalya went viral. Then an expert cameraman, he was initially reluctant to look on air however was persuaded by colleagues to entrance his reviews, an expertise he known as “indescribable.”
“I had never even appeared on a local channel let alone an international one,” he was cited as saying in the Sotour media outlet in February. “The person who was happiest was my late father.” His father was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Jabalya shortly after Al-Sharif started showing on Al Jazeera.
A father of two, he appeared on the channel almost day-after-day since he began his job.
“We (journalists) slept in hospitals, in streets, in vehicles, in ambulances, in displacement shelters, in warehouses, with displaced people. I slept in 30 to 40 different places,” he informed the outlet.
After he took off his protecting gear on air in January, crowds lifted him on their shoulders in celebration.
“I am taking off the helmet that tired me, and this armor that has become an extension of my body,” he stated reside on Al Jazeera at the time as he paid tribute to colleagues killed and injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza.
Al-Sharif’s reviews attracted the consideration of the Israeli army, which, he claimed, warned him to cease his work for Al Jazeera, a community that had already misplaced a number of employees members to Israeli actions in Gaza, together with Ismail Al Ghoul, killed final yr, and Hossam Shabat, killed in March.
“At the end, (the Israeli military) sent me voice notes on my WhatsApp number… an intelligence officer told me… ‘you have minutes to leave the location you are in, go to the south, and stop reporting for Al Jazeera’… I was reporting from a hospital live.”
“Minutes later, the room I was reporting from was struck,” he stated.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) didn’t reply to NCS’s request for remark.
Israel first accused Al-Sharif of being linked to Hamas 10 months in the past. Why it determined to focus on him now’s unclear.
In a press release confirming his focused killing, the IDF accused Al-Sharif of main a Hamas cell in Gaza that orchestrated “rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF forces.”
In October 2024, the Israeli army printed paperwork it claimed confirmed “unequivocal proof” of Al-Sharif’s ties to Hamas and named 5 different Al Jazeera journalists who it stated have been half of the militant group. An Israeli military spokesperson stated in a video on X that Al-Sharif joined a Hamas battalion in 2013, and was injured in coaching in 2017,
NCS has not been in a position to independently affirm the IDF’s claims. Al-Sharif denied the accusations, and Irene Khan, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, additionally rejected them.
“I reaffirm: I, Anas Al-Sharif, am a journalist with no political affiliations. My only mission is to report the truth from the ground – as it is, without bias,” he wrote last month. “At a time when a deadly famine is ravaging Gaza, speaking the truth has become, in the eyes of the occupation, a threat.”
Following the killing, the IDF’s Arabic spokesperson printed a number of footage of Al-Sharif with Yahya Sinwar, the late Hamas chief who’s believed to have masterminded the October 7, 2023 assault that left round 1,200 folks in Israel useless and roughly 250 extra taken hostage. Israel killed Sinwar in October 2024.
NCS has established that, earlier than the war in Gaza, Al-Sharif labored for a Hamas media group in the strip. In an audio recording from a number of months in the past, Al-Sharif might be heard criticizing the stance adopted by the Hamas negotiating group.
When he was killed on Sunday, Al-Sharif was in a tent with different journalists close to the entrance to the Al-Shifa Hospital, in response to hospital director Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiya.
The tent was marked with a ‘Press’ signal, Abu Salmiya informed NCS. The strike killed at the least seven folks, he added.
Al Jazeera stated correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and photojournalists Ibrahim Al Thaher and Moamen Aliwa have been additionally killed in the strike, in addition to Mohammed Noufal, one other employees member.
Al-Sharif’s killing prompted condemnations from rights teams and officers. The Committee to Protect Journalists stated it was “appalled,” including that Israel has “a longstanding, documented pattern of accusing journalists of being terrorists without providing any credible proof.”
The CPJ stated 192 journalists have been killed since the starting of the war almost two years in the past, including: “184 of those journalists are Palestinians killed by Israel.”
Since the begin of the war, Israel has not allowed worldwide journalists to enter Gaza to report independently.
Just hours earlier than the strike that killed Al-Sharif and his colleagues, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated international journalists would now be allowed into Gaza, however solely with Israeli army approval and accompanied by them, the similar embed coverage that has been in place since the starting of the war.
Al Jazeera, based mostly in Qatar, is one of the few international information retailers broadcasting reside from Gaza throughout the battle, in contrast to others that primarily depend on native freelance journalists. As one of the most watched channels in the Arab world, its steady protection of Gaza has drawn a big viewership amongst Palestinians and Arabic-speaking audiences.
The community’s YouTube channel has greater than 21 million subscribers and almost 16 billion views, with a reside stream that draws thousands and thousands of viewers
Al-Sharif gained prominence in the community as many of its well-known journalists in Gaza have been killed or injured by Israeli strikes. Wael Al Dahdouh, the former Gaza bureau chief, was evacuated to Qatar after sustaining accidents and having most of his household killed.
Al-Sharif then emerged as a roving reporter throughout Gaza, offering Al Jazeera with reside updates from the north of the enclave. He additionally frequently posted movies on his Telegram channel highlighting the toll of the war on Palestinians.
Last yr, Israel banned the Al Jazeera from working in the nation beneath a sweeping new wartime legislation that permits the Israeli authorities to ban international media organizations it deems “harmful” to the nation’s safety.
Al-Sharif was buried in Gaza on Monday in a funeral that attracted massive crowds of Palestinian mourners.
Anticipating his personal loss of life, Al-Sharif had written a will that was launched by his colleagues after he was killed.
“I have lived through pain in all its details, tasted suffering and loss many times, yet I never once hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification… If I die, I die steadfast upon my principles,” he wrote.
“Do not forget Gaza … and do not forget me in your sincere prayers for forgiveness and acceptance.”