A recent Israeli airstrike killed four Al Jazeera journalists and two freelancers, the Qatar-based broadcaster said on Tuesday, correcting its earlier report that five of six victims were staff members.Initially, the network identified correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa as those killed in Sunday’s attack. In a corrected report on its English-language website, Al-Jazeera clarified that Moamen Aliwa was a freelance cameraman and the sixth journalist killed in the attack, Mohammed al-Khalidi was also a freelancer. “An earlier version of this story referred to Israel killing five Al Jazeera staff. The number of Al Jazeera journalists Israel killed was four,” Al Jazeera stated. The late Sunday strike on a tent outside the main gate of Gaza City’s Al Shifa hospital has drawn international condemnation, and Al Jazeera has called the act an “assassination.”Moments before his death, Anas al-Sharif, 28, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent known for his extensive reporting from northern Gaza, posted on X that Israel was carrying out intense, concentrated bombardments, referred to as “fire belts”, on Gaza city’s eastern and Southern areas.The Israeli military acknowledged carrying out the strike, one of Al Jazeera’s most recognisable correspondents, alleging he was a “terrorist” who “posed as a journalist,” reports AFP. Al Jazeera condemned the killings and rejected the allegations against Sharif, stating the Israeli attack came after “repeated incitement and calls by multiple Israeli officials and spokespersons to target the fearless journalist Anas Al Sharif and his colleagues.”In a final message dated April 6, intended for release in the event of his death, al-Sharif wrote that he had “lived the pain in all its details” and had “tasted grief and loss repeatedly,” reported Al Jazeera.“Despite that, I never hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or misrepresentation, hoping that God would witness those who remained silent, those who accepted our killing, and those who suffocated our very breaths,” Sharif said.Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) stated in early July that the war in Gaza has claimed the lives of over 200 journalists, including several working for Al Jazeera.
