An Aug. 10 Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al Sharif, 28, along with three other Al Jazeera journalists and an assistant, according to Gaza officials and the Qatar-funded news network. 

Israel’s military said the strike targeted Al Sharif because he allegedly led a Hamas militant cell and helped coordinate rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and troops, Reuters reported. The military identified Al Sharif as the head of the Hamas cell, claiming the assessment was based on intelligence and documents recovered in Gaza.

Al Jazeera dismissed the allegations, saying Al Sharif had consistently denied them and accusing Israel of trying to silence one of the few remaining reporters in Gaza. 

“Al Sharif and his colleagues were among the last remaining voices in Gaza conveying the tragic reality to the world,” the network said.

The strike hit a tented area near Al Shifa Hospital in eastern Gaza City, killing the five Al Jazeera employees.

Gaza medical staff later confirmed freelance reporter Mohammad Al-Khaldi was also among the dead. Two other people were reported killed in the same attack.

Condemnations followed from Qatar’s prime minister, the U.N. human rights office, and press freedom groups. The U.N. called the strike a “grave breach of international humanitarian law,” while the Committee to Protect Journalists reiterated its earlier demand that Israel present evidence for its claims.

Minutes before his death, Al Sharif had posted on X describing heavy bombardment in Gaza City. Later, a post from his account shared what Al Sharif had called his “will and final message.”

“If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice,” the post said.

“I have lived through pain in all its details,” he continued, “tasted suffering and loss many times, yet I never once hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification — so that Allah may bear witness against those who stayed silent, those who accepted our killing, those who choked our breath, and whose hearts were unmoved by the scattered remains of our children and women, doing nothing to stop the massacre that our people have faced for more than a year and a half.”

Funeral prayers were held Aug. 11 at Gaza’s Sheikh Radwan Cemetery. Al Sharif had previously been part of a Reuters photography team that won a 2024 Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.