(NEW YORK)—The killing of five Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza by the Israeli military raises grave concerns about ongoing attacks against Palestinian journalists and media freedom by the government of Israel, and could amount to a war crime, PEN America said today.
According to medic and eyewitness reports given to the media and to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), five Al Jazeera journalists were killed in a strike on a tent known to be used by the media near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. A sixth journalist, freelancer Mohammad Al-Khaldi, was killed in a nearby tent.
The Al Jazeera journalists were named as correspondents Anas Al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa.
“In what appears to be a targeted strike on a tent known to be used by the media, the Israeli government has committed an appalling act that may amount to a war crime. This attack not only wiped out an entire team of journalists—at a time when there are fewer and fewer voices able to report from Gaza—but also took six more Palestinian lives in an onslaught that has already claimed thousands of lives,” said Liesl Gerntholtz, managing director of the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Center at PEN America.
Al-Sharif was previously part of a Reuters team which in 2024 won a Pulitzer Prize in the category of Breaking News Photography for coverage of the Israel-Hamas war. On August 5, the U.N. Special Rapporteur for freedom of expression, Irene Khan, warned about repeated threats against Al-Sharif and the failure of the Israeli government to provide evidence to support their claims that Al-Sharif was a “terrorist or supporter of Hamas.” The government of Israel has not provided any evidence to support its claims.
“The fact that Al-Sharif’s family, friends, and colleagues must now defend him from unsupported accusations rather than being able to mourn him and honor his legacy as a journalist adds to the disgraceful nature of this crime,” added Gerntholtz.
Israel has a longstanding, documented pattern of accusing journalists of being terrorists without offering evidence to support its claims, CPJ said in its statement about the murders, released earlier today, adding that accusations against Al-Sharif often coincided with his reports on major developments – such as his coverage of the starvation in Gaza as a result of the Israeli government’s restrictions on the entry of aid.
The targeted killing of journalists is a war crime under international humanitarian law. PEN America unequivocally condemns the Israeli government’s use of lethal force against journalists, and calls for an independent and impartial investigation into these killings.
About PEN America
PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible. Learn more at pen.org.