Al Jazeera Vows to Continue Gaza Coverage After Targeted Killing of Correspondent Amid Record Journalist Death Toll

Israel’s targeted killing of an Al Jazeera correspondent in Gaza over the weekend has drawn attention to the extraordinary dangers journalists face covering the war, with experts noting it is remarkable that any news emerges from the territory.

An Al Jazeera executive said Monday the network will not back down from covering events in Gaza and urged other news organizations to increase their reporting presence. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 184 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed by Israel since the war began in October 2023 — a stark contrast to the 18 journalists killed in the Russia-Ukraine war during the same period.

Israel has barred international media from independently covering the 22-month Gaza war, allowing only rare guided tours. Most reporting relies on Palestinian journalists inside Gaza, whose work Israel often questions but does not replace with outside access.

“You simply are in awe when stories show up,” said veteran war correspondent Jane Ferguson, who called Gaza the most difficult conflict she has covered.

Correspondent Anas al-Sharif was killed Sunday in an Israeli airstrike outside Gaza City’s largest hospital complex, along with seven others — six of them journalists. Israel claimed without providing evidence that al-Sharif led a Hamas cell, an allegation both Al Jazeera and al-Sharif denied.

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Major outlets such as AFP, AP, BBC, and Reuters regularly report from Gaza, but none match the immediacy of Al Jazeera’s coverage. CPJ estimates that 11 of its journalists and media workers have been killed in the conflict — more than any other outlet.

In a social media post prepared in June to be released if he was killed, al-Sharif wrote: “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.” On Aug. 10, the day he was killed, he described covering the aftermath of an attack: “Body parts and blood were all around us… I was truly helpless in the face of this horrific sight.”

Salah Negm, news director at Al Jazeera English, said it remains difficult to get people into Gaza, but there are many trained, educated locals who can help report the truth. “We get the news from several sources on the ground in Gaza — not only journalists but also doctors, hospitals, civil servants, aid workers,” Negm said.

Many journalists in Gaza struggle with hunger alongside the population they cover. Ferguson said she had never before needed to ask a reporter if they had enough food for themselves and their children.

In May, 22-year-old journalist Abubaker Abed told “Democracy Now!” he left Gaza for education in Ireland because of malnutrition and his family’s fear that his reporting would make them targets. “If I stayed, I would die,” he said.

Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of CPJ, warned that Israel’s actions could set a dangerous precedent for future conflicts if left unchallenged. “They’re essentially admitting in public to what amounts to a war crime,” she said, adding that the lack of consequences for previous attacks on journalists has allowed Israel to act “with this level of impunity.”

Despite the risks, she said, “the most remarkable thing is that journalists are continuing to cover (Gaza) at all.”