Anas al-Sharif
أنس الشريف
Al Jazeera correspondent in Gaza City · 1996–2025 · Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza City
Anas al-Sharif, one of Gaza's most prominent journalists, was killed with five colleagues in an Israeli missile strike on the Al Jazeera tent outside al-Shifa Hospital; Israel claimed responsibility, alleging he led a Hamas cell — an accusation CPJ said lacked credible evidence and fit a documented pattern.
Anas al-Sharif, 29, a father of two from Jabalia refugee camp, became one of the most-watched journalists of the war through his daily Al Jazeera reporting from northern Gaza. The threats against him dated to November 2023, when Israeli army officers called him demanding he stop covering the war and leave the north, disclosing that they were tracking his location; on December 11, 2023, an Israeli airstrike on his family home killed his 90-year-old father, according to CPJ. In October 2024 the Israeli military named him among six Al Jazeera journalists it accused of militant ties, a claim the network rejected, and in July 2025 the military’s Arabic-language spokesman renewed the public accusations after al-Sharif cried on air while reporting on starvation in Gaza.
At 11:22 p.m. on August 10, 2025, an Israeli drone fired a single missile at the Al Jazeera tent by the main gate of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, an eyewitness told CPJ. The strike killed al-Sharif, correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa, and freelance journalist Mohammed al-Khaldi. Israel’s military promptly claimed responsibility, alleging al-Sharif headed a Hamas cell and advanced rocket attacks; CPJ said the documents Israel published were not credible and noted its longstanding pattern of unsubstantiated claims against journalists it has killed. UN experts said they were appalled, calling the strike an attempt to silence reporting as Israel prepared its takeover of Gaza City.
Minutes after his death, a final message al-Sharif had written in April 2025 was posted to his accounts: “If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.” The killing, days after Israel’s security cabinet approved occupying Gaza City, drew international condemnation; Al Jazeera called it a targeted assassination of “one of Gaza’s bravest journalists.”
Sources
Open questions
UN experts condemned the killing as an attempt to silence reporting; press-freedom organizations continue to demand an independent investigation and accountability.