GAZA CITY, April 6, 2025 — Veteran Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Jamal Al-Sharif was among five journalists killed on Sunday when an Israeli airstrike hit a press tent outside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, local health officials and media outlets confirmed.
The tent, marked as a press area, was destroyed in what witnesses described as a concentrated Israeli “fire belt” assault on eastern and southern Gaza City. The strike also killed Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqea and cameramen Ibrahim Daher, Moumin Alaywa, and Mohammed Noufal.
Hours later, Al Jazeera released Al-Sharif’s final testament — a pre-written message to be published in the event of his killing. In it, the veteran reporter from Jabalia refugee camp said: “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… I entrust you with Palestine, the jewel in the crown of the Muslim world.”
He urged the world to “not let chains silence you, nor borders restrain you” and called for the protection of his family, including his young daughter Sham and son Salah. “If I die, I die steadfast upon my principles,” he wrote.
The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the strike and called for an independent investigation into what it described as “the systematic targeting of media workers in Gaza.”
According to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, more than 160 journalists have been killed since the war began nearly 22 months ago.
I kept the lead tight, added his quotes for human depth, and closed on the wider context to keep it hard-news focused.
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