Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, 28, was one of Gaza’s most recognisable faces for his constant reporting of the reality on the ground over the last 22 months.
Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, 33, made his last live report on air only shortly before his assassination, speaking in his trademark eloquent manner.
Al Jazeera cameraman Ibrahim Zaher, 25, was from Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
The team was in a tent by the main gate of Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital late on Sunday evening.
The tent was where they worked, as journalists in Gaza have gathered at hospitals to seek better electricity and internet connections, a fact that has been well-known since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Al Jazeera’s reporter Hani al-Shaer said an Israeli drone hit the journalists’ tent at approximately 11:35pm (20:35 GMT) on Sunday night. Shortly before being killed, al-Sharif wrote on X that Israel had launched intense, concentrated bombardment – also known as “fire belts” – on the eastern and southern parts of Gaza City.
On numerous occasions over the last 22 months, Israel has justified killing reporters by claiming they belonged to armed groups. Groups focused on press freedom and media workers’ rights have said for months that Israel is deliberately targeting journalists in Gaza.
Al Jazeera called the killing of its staff a “targeted assassination … in yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom”.
It said the journalists “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”.
Israel has banned international media from entering Gaza since October 2023, but “Al Jazeera journalists remained within besieged Gaza … [delivering] searing eyewitness accounts of the horrors unleashed over 22 months of relentless bombing and destruction”, the statement said.
