Five Al Jazeera journalists, including well-known correspondent Anas al-Sharif, were killed in an Israeli strike near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Sunday, the network confirmed.

Al-Sharif, fellow reporter Mohammed Qreiqeh, and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa were inside a journalists’ tent at the hospital’s main gate when it was hit. In a statement, Al Jazeera condemned what it called a “targeted assassination” and “yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) acknowledged targeting al-Sharif, alleging he was the head of a Hamas cell involved in organizing rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and troops. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Israel had provided no evidence to substantiate those claims, noting a pattern of accusing slain reporters of militancy after their deaths.

Al Jazeera’s managing editor, Mohamed Moawad, told the BBC that al-Sharif was a fully accredited journalist and “the only voice” documenting the reality inside Gaza, where foreign press have been barred from reporting freely. “They were targeted in their tent, not on the front line,” he said, accusing Israel of trying to silence coverage from within the enclave.

Moments before his death, al-Sharif, 28, appeared to post on X about intense Israeli bombardment in Gaza City. Graphic videos verified by the BBC show the aftermath of the strike, with colleagues identifying the bodies of al-Sharif and Qreiqeh. Al Jazeera later confirmed the total death toll from the strike was seven, including all five of its staff.

The network, the UN, and CPJ had previously warned that al-Sharif’s life was at risk, following an IDF social media post in July accusing him of being part of Hamas’s armed wing—a claim UN Special Rapporteur Irene Khan called “unsubstantiated” and a “blatant assault on journalists.”

This is not the first time the IDF has targeted Al Jazeera personnel. In August last year, correspondent Ismael al-Ghoul was killed in an air strike alongside cameraman Rami al-Rifi and a bystander, with Israel later claiming al-Ghoul took part in Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack—an allegation the network rejected.

According to CPJ, 186 journalists have been killed since Israel launched its military offensive in Gaza in October 2023, which began after Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.

For those still reporting from Gaza, conditions are increasingly desperate. Local journalists face not only the risk of air strikes but also starvation. International news agencies, including Reuters, AP, AFP, and the BBC, have expressed “desperate concern” for their colleagues, some of whom have gone days without food. Aid groups warn of mass hunger in Gaza, but Israel—which controls aid entry—accuses these organizations of serving Hamas propaganda.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says more than 61,000 people have been killed since the start of Israel’s offensive.