Suleiman al-Obeid

Al Jazeera said two of its correspondents, including a prominent reporter, and three cameramen were killed in an Israeli strike on their tent in Gaza City on Sunday. The Israeli military admitted in a statement to targeting Anas al-Sharif, the reporter it labelled as a "terrorist" affiliated with Hamas. The attack was the latest to see journalists targeted in the 22-month war in Gaza, with around 200 media workers killed over the course of the conflict, according to media watchdogs. "Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif has been killed alongside four colleagues in a targeted Israeli attack on a tent housing journalists in Gaza City," the Qatar-based broadcaster said. "Al-Sharif, 28, was killed on Sunday after a tent for journalists outside the main gate of the hospital was hit. The well-known Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent reportedly extensively from northern Gaza."

Israeli forces have killed five journalists working for Al Jazeera, among them the prominent reporter Anas Al-Sharif, sparking global outrage over the targeting of media workers. The killing has been condemned by the network, which called it a "desperate attempt to silence the voices exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza". The Committee to Protect Journalists also called for accountability, and the National Press Club demanded an inquiry into the killings. On Monday morning, Israeli forces killed at least 10 Palestinians in Khan Younis and Gaza City. Some of the attacks hit tents housing displaced families. The latest developments come as Australia declared its plan to recognise a Palestinian state.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel would move to “evacuate” and seize Gaza City “fairly quickly” and “complete the job.” These statements coincided with an Israeli airstrike that deliberately killed six journalists in Gaza City aimed at silencing coverage of war crimes being carried out against the Palestinian population. Speaking after a meeting of Israel’s security cabinet, Netanyahu defended the approved plan that envisions the forced removal of all Palestinians from Gaza City and surrounding refugee camps in the central part of the Strip. According to reports in the Washington Post, the prime minister presented the scheme as a matter of national security, insisting that Israel will ultimately “assume paramount security responsibility for Gaza” while transferring day-to-day governance to what he described as “an unspecified third party that will neither be Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.”