Skyline International for Human Rights condemns Israel’s deliberate assassination of six Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza

Skyline International for Human Rights (SIHR) condemns in the strongest possible terms the deliberate targeting and killing of six journalists, including Al Jazeera’s Anas Al-Sharif, correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Momen Alioua, by Israeli forces last night in Gaza, who have openly claimed responsibility for deliberately targeting journalists.

The journalists were not in an area of combat. They were inside their press tent near the Al-Shifa Medical Complex—far from any frontline—when an Israeli airstrike hit their location. This was an unambiguous, targeted attack designed to silence the last independent voices documenting Israel’s atrocities in Gaza.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed over 232 journalists in Gaza, the deadliest period for the press in modern history. This latest massacre follows a documented pattern of systematic disinformation and incitement by Israeli ministries, military spokespeople, and affiliated media outlets on X (formerly Twitter), Telegram, and other social media platforms. These campaigns deliberately portray Palestinian journalists as “terrorists” or claim they have ties to militant groups to delegitimize their reporting, justify acts of aggression against them, and erode international sympathy for their work.

On October 23, 2024, the Israeli military posted a statement on X accusing six Al Jazeera journalists, including Anas Al-Sharif, of being affiliated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, without presenting a shred of evidence. These defamatory accusations, amplified by pro-government accounts across social media, directly endangered Al-Sharif’s life and laid the groundwork for his assassination.

Just ten days before the assassination, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression Irene Khan warned that she was deeply worried about repeated threats from the Israeli army against Anas Al-Sharif. She noted that without evidence, Israel had repeatedly accused him and other Palestinian journalists of being terrorists, placing them at extreme risk.

Most recently, Al-Sharif reported on the extreme hunger and famine conditions in Gaza, including the starvation he and his colleagues were enduring, as Israel continues to block the entry of sufficient food aid into Gaza.

Israel’s conduct is clear:

• It bans all international journalists from entering Gaza.
• It smears, threatens, obstructs, and kills the few remaining local reporters, the only eyes and voices able to bear witness to atrocities.
• It weaponizes social media to incite violence against journalists, creating the conditions for their targeting.

Just minutes before his assassination, Anas Al-Sharif warned the world:

“The occupation is threatening to invade Gaza seriously… and if this madness does not stop, nothing will remain of Gaza but rubble, and the image and voice of its people will fade away, and history’s memory will record you as silent witnesses to a genocide crime that no one did anything to stop.”

This targeted killing occurred only two days after Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan to invade and occupy Gaza City, a move that will intensify atrocities while eliminating the last remaining witnesses.

Under international law, the deliberate targeting of journalists is a war crime. Article 79 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions explicitly protects journalists in conflict zones. Israel’s actions represent not only a gross violation of these protections but also direct attack on truth itself.

SIHR calls on:

1. The UN Security Council to take immediate and decisive measures to hold Israel accountable for the deliberate killing of journalists in Gaza, including enforcing consequences under international law.
2. The International Criminal Court (ICC) to urgently open proceedings against Israeli leaders for war crimes, including the targeting of journalists.
3. Media organizations worldwide to unite in demanding accountability and refusing to normalize the silencing of journalists through murder.

Silencing the press is silencing humanity’s conscience. The world must act now, before Gaza’s last voices are erased forever.