Israel claims one of Gaza’s most prominent reporters was a Hamas military leader in disguise. His outlet — and many others — say that’s not true.
Israel has confirmed it killed one of Gaza’s most prominent journalists, Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, who the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has claimed was a member of Hamas.
The Israeli military has sought to back up its allegations using documents and images, while Al Jazeera and a number of international organizations have rejected the notion that Sharif was affiliated with the Palestinian militant group with which Israel has been at war for nearly two years.
Sharif had also denied he was a member of Hamas, including in comments issued in the final days leading up to his killing alongside five other journalists in a targeted Israeli airstrike on Gaza City on Sunday.
Newsweek has outlined what is known thus far about Sharif, his background and the context surrounding his death in what observers have repeatedly described as the world’s deadliest war zone for journalists.Who Was Anas Al-Sharif?
Anas Al-Sharif was born December 3, 1996, in Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp. According to media profiles, he graduated from Al-Aqsa University’s Faculty of Media in Gaza, where he specialized in television and radio, and went on to work at Al-Shamal Media Network before joining Qatar-based international news outlet Al Jazeera.
After Gaza’s deadliest war to date erupted in October 2023 with a Hamas-led surprise attack against Israel, Sharif became a regular and high-profile voice in Arabic-language media detailing events on the ground, made all the more influential because of how few journalists have been allowed in to report from the ground in Gaza. In December 2023, just weeks into the new conflict, his 90-year-old father was reportedly killed in an Israeli airstrike at their family home in December 2023.
Sharif was part of a Reuters team whose coverage of Gaza won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography in May 2024. He had reportedly prepared a “will and final message” to be published in the event that he was killed by Israeli strikes, a message later shared via his social media accounts beginning with the phrase, “If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.”
Sharif was killed Sunday alongside four other Al Jazeera staff in Israeli airstrikes targeting Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the Strip’s biggest urban enclave. In the minutes leading up to his death, he shared videos of what he called a “relentless bombardment” as “the Israeli aggression has intensified on Gaza City.”
A sixth journalist, identified as freelance reporter Mohammed al-Khaldi, was later reported dead in the same Israeli attacks, bringing the death toll of journalists to six.What Is Israel Saying?
As news began to emerge of Sharif’s death, the IDF issued a statement announcing that “in Gaza City, the IDF struck the terrorist Anas Al-Sharif, who posed as a journalist for the Al Jazeera network.”
“Anas Al-Sharif served as the head of a terrorist cell in the Hamas terrorist organization and was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops”, the IDF said.
The IDF included accompanying documents allegedly obtained in Gaza and purporting to support Sharif’s affiliation with Hamas, including his rank, salary, military ID number and a 2017 injury report. Officially, the IDF has alleged he was a part of the “Hamas East Jabaliya Battalion.
