OPT/Israel: The assassination of Aljazeera journalists is another desperate attempt to hide the truth about Israel’s crimes in Gaza
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“We mourn and condemn the killing of five Palestinian journalists in Gaza, including prominent correspondents Anas Al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh. These were civilians, protected under international law, whose only “crime” was telling the truth. Their deliberate killing is clearly intended to silence reporting on the attempted annihilation wreaked upon the people of Gaza.” Romana Cacchioli, PEN International Executive Director
12 August 2025: PEN International is outraged by the targeted extra-judicial killing of five Al Jazeera journalists, including prominent correspondents Anas Al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa. The deliberate targeting and killing of journalists and media workers in Gaza is an integral part of Israel’s genocidal campaign to erase Palestinians in the Strip and silence those who reveal the truth about its crimes.
We call on the International Criminal Court to investigate the intentional targeting of Al Jazeera journalists as part of its ongoing investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity in the State of Palestine and to hold those responsible to account. Israel’s impunity has so far encouraged further war crimes and crimes against humanity and threatens the entire international justice system.
PEN International reiterates its calls on the international community to support swift, independent, and transparent investigations into the killings of all writers and journalists targeted for their reporting in Gaza and across the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), and to immediately end Israel’s impunity. The organisation also continues to call for an immediate arms embargo on all parties to the conflict, and particularly a ban on the export of weapons to Israel to prevent further loss of lives and put an end to the ongoing genocide.
On 10 August 2025, the Israeli authorities announced that they had targeted and killed award-winning Palestinian journalist Anas Al-Sharif in an airstrike, citing groundless allegations of links to terrorist groups. Al-Jazeera confirmed that five of its staff were killed in an airstrike on a tent housing journalists located outside the main gate of Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital. Shortly before the attack, Al-Sharif reported on the intensifying Israeli bombardment of Gaza City on social media. On 31 July 2025, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression Irene Khan denounced online attacks and unfounded accusations by the Israeli army against Al-Sharif and raised concerns for his safety.
In its 2023/2024 Case List, PEN International raised concerns about threats and intimidation against journalists covering the war in Gaza. Al-Sharif reported in November 2023 that he had received direct threats from Israeli officers to stop his reporting and had been ordered to leave northern Gaza. He also received notes on his phone identifying his location at the time, signalling that he could be targeted with an airstrike. In December 2023, his elderly father was killed by an Israeli airstrike on his family home in Jabalia Refugee Camp.
This latest targeting of journalists and media workers in Gaza comes amid the worsening, deliberate starvation of Gaza's population and impending Israeli plans to escalate its ground invasion and occupation of Gaza City. The targeted killings of Palestinian journalists, particularly -Sarif and Mohamed Qreiqeh, have proven to be in retaliation for their crucial part in reporting on the daily reality in Gaza since October 2023.
The ongoing genocide in Gaza is the deadliest war for writers since WWII. According to PEN International’s research, since 7 October 2023, at least 23 writers - excluding artists and other cultural workers - have been killed by Israeli bombardment. Israel has also been responsible for the deaths of at least 184 journalists and media workers, according to CPJ’s preliminary investigations. This unprecedented and massive loss of life represents a colossal blow to Palestinian cultural life, posing a significant challenge to the immediate safety of writers and journalists, as well as their ability to recover after the genocide ends.
In June 2025, PEN International concurred with the UN and legal experts, sister human rights organisations, and genocide scholars that genocide is being perpetrated against Palestinians in Gaza, and called for an immediate arms embargo on all parties to the conflict, with particular emphasis on a ban on the export of all weapons used by the state of Israel in its persistent and intentional targeting of Palestinian civilians across the OPT.
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