Voices from Gaza fall silent: Anas al-Sharif’s story ends in martyrdom

Anas al-Sharif and Muhammad Qreiqa, both Palestinian reporters, along with photojournalists Muhammad Noufal and Ibrahim Zahir, were martyred when an Israeli airstrike targeted a tent used by journalists in northern Gaza.

Al-Sharif, before his death, had been the subject of an Israeli smear campaign accusing him of belonging to Hamas’s military wing and participating in rocket launches.

However, both al-Sharif and Al Jazeera — for which he reported from northern Gaza — categorically denied these allegations. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), in a statement on July 24, 2025, said that al-Sharif had been targeted in an Israeli military defamation campaign.

The CPJ stressed: “The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned for the safety of Anas al-Sharif, an Al Jazeera Arabic journalist in Gaza, who has been targeted in an Israeli military smear campaign, which al-Sharif believes is a prelude to his assassination.”

The NGO added that the Israeli army has made unfounded claims that many of the journalists it has deliberately killed in Gaza were combatants — cases the CPJ considers deliberate killings.

According to Al Mayadeen, the attack on the journalists’ tent, located near al-Shifa Hospital, also injured another journalist, Muhammad Sabah.

Al Jazeera, reacting to the killing of its journalist, stated: “This attack comes amid the catastrophic consequences of Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza, which has resulted in the ruthless slaughter of civilians, forced starvation, and the complete destruction of communities. The order to assassinate Anas al-Sharif, one of Gaza’s bravest journalists, and his colleagues, is a desperate attempt to silence voices exposing the impending capture and occupation of Gaza.”

Al Jazeera called on the international community and all relevant organizations to take decisive action to halt the ongoing genocide and end the deliberate targeting of journalists.

Will of Anas al-Sharif

Minutes after his death, the administrators of Anas al-Sharif’s official page published his will:

This is my will and my final message. If these words reach you, know that Israel has managed to kill me and silence my voice. First, may God’s peace, mercy, and blessings be upon you.

God knows that from the moment I opened my eyes in the streets and alleys of the Jabalia refugee camp, I devoted all my strength to supporting and giving voice to my people’s children. My hope was that God would grant me a long life so that I could return, with my family and loved ones, to my original city — occupied Asqalan (al-Majdal) — but God’s will came sooner, and His decree was fulfilled.

I have experienced pain in all its details, tasted grief and loss many times, yet I never failed to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or fabrication. Perhaps God will bear witness against those who remained silent and accepted our killing, those who besieged our breaths and whose hearts remained unmoved by the pieces of our children’s and women’s bodies, and who have not stopped the massacre that has been imposed on our people for more than a year and a half.

I urge you to care for Palestine — the pearl of the Muslim crown and the heartbeat of every free person in the world — for its people and its innocent children who never had the chance to dream or live in safety and peace. Their pure bodies have been crushed beneath thousands of tons of Israeli bombs and missiles, torn apart and scattered on the walls.

I urge you not to let chains silence you or borders confine you. Be bridges for the liberation of lands and peoples until the sun of dignity and freedom rises over our occupied homeland.

I urge kindness toward my family: my beloved daughter Shaam, whom I never lived to see grow up as I had always dreamed; my dear son Salah, whom I wished to befriend and support until he grew strong, to lift the burden from my shoulders and carry on the mission; my dear mother, whose prayers brought me to this place, whose supplications were my refuge and light; and my wife, Umm Salah Bayan, who the war kept from me for days and months, yet she remained faithful, steadfast like the trunk of an olive tree that does not bend, patient and grateful, guarding the trust with strength and faith in my absence.

I ask you to gather around them and be their support after God.

If I die, I will die steadfast upon my principles. I testify to God that I am content with His decree, believe in meeting Him, and am certain that what is with God is better and everlasting.

O God, accept me among the martyrs, forgive my past and future sins, and make my blood a light that illuminates the path to freedom for my people and family.

Forgive me if I have fallen short, and pray for me, for I have kept my pledge and not changed.

Do not forget Gaza… and do not deprive me of your prayers for mercy and forgiveness.

Reactions to the killing of Palestinian journalists

Amnesty International condemned the Israeli military’s killing of journalists, saying in a statement:

“The deliberate targeting and killing of journalists by Israeli forces constitutes a war crime under international humanitarian law. We are deeply saddened and heartbroken. Words cannot describe the grief we feel over the deliberate targeting of journalists. Anas al-Sharif dedicated his life to standing in front of the camera, exposing Israeli crimes against Palestinians, and documenting the truth so the world could witness it.”

Amnesty stressed that Israel not only assassinates journalists but also attacks journalism itself by preventing the documentation of genocide. Brave journalists who have been reporting since the start of the genocide have been working in some of the most dangerous conditions on Earth. Despite extreme risks, they have remained to show the world Israel’s war crimes against nearly 2 million Palestinian men, women, and children.

The Press Freedom Foundation also condemned the killings and called for international action to stop further attacks on the media.

Seth Stern, the foundation’s advocacy director, said in a statement: “Anyone angered by the recent horrific images of hunger and suffering in Gaza should know that without journalists risking their lives, you wouldn’t have seen these images or known about the atrocities your governments are funding. That’s exactly why Israel targets and kills them in violation of international law. Now, perhaps more than at any time since the slaughter began, the world understands how vital this work is.”

Meanwhile, Marc Botenga, a Belgian member of the European Parliament, wrote on social media platform X: “Since late 2023, around 200 journalists have lost their lives — more than in any other modern war. This is a war on the press, backed by Europe.”

David Shoebridge, an Australian Green Party member, stressed that the killing of Palestinian journalists is happening while Israel continues to block foreign reporters from entering Gaza.

He said: “Now, with the killing of Anas al-Sharif, Muhammad Qreiqa, Ibrahim Zahir, and Muhammad Noufal, all of Al Jazeera’s team in Gaza have been killed by Israel. Every day they try to hide the truth of the genocide they are committing.”

UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, also issued a statement on the killings: “We extend our condolences to the Al Jazeera family. We are looking into what happened today in Gaza. We have always been very clear in condemning all killings of journalists. In Gaza and everywhere, media workers must be able to do their jobs freely and without harassment, intimidation, or fear of being targeted. Journalists must be granted free access to all areas of Gaza to report independently on the situation.”

Hamas, in a statement, described the killing of journalists as a brutal crime that surpasses all boundaries of fascism and criminality:

“Following the criminal airstrike on the journalists’ tent at al-Shifa Hospital in western Gaza City, another group of journalists has joined the 232 journalists whom the Nazi-like occupying army has cold-bloodedly killed — the largest targeting of journalists in any war in history. We mourn the journalists martyred in this attack. Anas al-Sharif was an outstanding example of a free journalist, documenting the crime of food blockade and showing the world images of the famine imposed by the occupiers on Gaza’s people.”

Irene Khan, UN Special Rapporteur, said Israeli attacks on journalists in Gaza are part of a deliberate policy to silence the voice of truth:

“The Israeli army is trying to kill the truth, but it will never succeed. Journalists exposing Israel’s crimes and atrocities in Gaza are being directly targeted, and the number of journalists killed in this war exceeds that of any other conflict in the world.”

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement also issued a statement condemning the killings: “The deliberate targeting of the journalists’ tent at the entrance to al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City by the Zionist occupiers last night is a heinous war crime committed in full view of the world. It is yet another proof of the absence of even the most basic moral and human values in the Israeli occupation army, which is the most savage and criminal military in the world.”