The Qatar-based media company states that journalists Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh as well as photographers Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa were killed when a tent outside Shifa hospital in Gaza City was hit.
With reference to witness statements from the hospital's manager, Al Jazeera writes that it appears to have been a targeted attack on the tent, which was intended for the media.
Freelance photographer Mohammed Al-Khaldi also died from his injuries from the attack, according to the hospital manager and a spokesperson for Gaza's civil defense authority.
Warned about safety
The Israeli military (IDF) confirms the attack and calls Anas al-Sharif "a terrorist who operates under the guise of a journalist" and has been the leader of a terrorist cell. Al Jazeera, on the other hand, writes that "there is no evidence that al-Sharif participated in any hostilities" against Israel.
As recently as July, the independent organization Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) published a statement in which they appealed for protection for him after Israel's Arabic-speaking spokesperson Avichay Adraee made what CPJ described as escalated rhetoric against al-Sharif with claims of Hamas connections.
The deadly attack is now being condemned as "abhorrent" by the organization.
Israel's pattern of labeling journalists as combatants without providing reliable evidence raises serious questions about its motives and respect for press freedom, says Sara Qudah at CPJ, to the news agency AFP.
Journalists are civilians and should never be targeted. Those responsible for the death of these journalists must be held accountable.
Killed over 200 journalists
Anas al-Sharif was one of the channel's most well-known names and reported daily from the field in Gaza. In one of his last clips, which he published on social media, he captured Israeli attacks on Gaza City.
The organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) also "strongly and angrily condemns the acknowledged murder by the Israeli army" and calls Israel's accusations "baseless".
The Israeli military has killed over 200 journalists since the war in Gaza began, according to Al Jazeera. The media company has previously accused Israel of systematically targeting and killing its journalists – which the IDF denies.
