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Anas Al-Sharif was the face of war for millions of people, CNN: The story of the journalist Israel deliberately killed in Gaza

2025-08-12 11:40:23Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Anas Al-Sharif was the face of war for millions of people, CNN: The story of the
Anas Al-Sharif

Mostafa Salem – CNN

When a ceasefire went into effect in January in Gaza, Anas Al-Sharif began removing his protective gear live on television, piece by piece, to a cheering crowd, hoping the day marked the end of the suffering of the 2 million Palestinians in the enclave.

Almost seven months later, Israel killed the Al Jazeera journalist and four colleagues in an attack in Gaza City. One of the most prominent Palestinian journalists in Gaza — and one of dozens killed by Israel during the war — Al-Sharif's death has prompted an international outcry with calls for those responsible to be held accountable.

The 28-year-old became known as the face of Gaza's history to millions as Israel blocked international media from entering the territory. Little-known before the war, he quickly became a household name in the Arab world for his daily coverage of the conflict and its humanitarian cost.

His reporting provided firsthand accounts of critical moments in the conflict, including short-term ceasefires in the territory, the release of Israeli hostages, and harrowing stories of famine that shocked the world.

Al Jazeera recruited Al-Sharif in December 2023 after his social media footage of Israeli attacks on his hometown of Jabalya went viral. By then a professional cameraman, he was initially reluctant to appear on air but was persuaded by colleagues to broadcast his news, an experience he called “indescribable.”

“I had never appeared on a local channel, let alone an international one,” he was quoted as saying in the Sotour media outlet in February. “The person who was happiest was my late father.” His father was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Jabalya shortly after Al-Sharif began appearing on Al Jazeera.

A father of two, he appeared on the channel almost every day since he started his job.

"We (journalists) slept in hospitals, on the streets, in vehicles, in ambulances, in displacement shelters, in warehouses, with displaced people. I slept in 30 to 40 different places," he told the media.

After he removed his protective gear on air in January, crowds hoisted him onto his shoulders in celebration.

"I am taking off the helmet that has tired me and this armor that has become an extension of my body," he said live on Al Jazeera at the time as he paid tribute to colleagues killed and wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Al-Sharif's reporting attracted the attention of the Israeli military, which, he said, warned him to stop his work for Al Jazeera, a network that had already lost several staff members to Israeli attacks on Gaza, including Ismail Al Ghoul, killed last year, and Hossam Shabat, killed in March.

“Finally, (the Israeli army) sent me voice messages on my WhatsApp number… an intelligence officer was telling me… ‘you have a few minutes to leave your location, go south and stop reporting for Al Jazeera…’ I was reporting live from a hospital. The room I was reporting from was then hit,” he said.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not respond to CNN's request for comment.

Why now?

Israel first accused Al-Sharif of being affiliated with Hamas 10 months ago. The reason it decided to target him is now unclear. In a statement confirming his targeted killing, the IDF accused Al-Sharif of leading a Hamas cell in Gaza that orchestrated “rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF forces.”

In October 2024, the Israeli military released documents it claimed showed “clear evidence” of Al-Sharif’s ties to Hamas and listed five other Al Jazeera journalists it said were part of the militant group. An Israeli military spokesman stated in a video on “X” that Al-Sharif joined a Hamas battalion in 2013 and was injured during training in 2017, an allegation denied by the journalist himself and Irene Khan, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression.

“I reaffirm: I, Anas Al-Sharif, am a journalist without political affiliation. My sole mission is to report the truth from the ground – as it is, without bias,” he wrote last month. “At a time when a deadly famine is ravaging Gaza, telling the truth has become, in the eyes of the occupier, a threat.”

After the journalist's killing, the IDF's Arabic-language spokesman released several photos of Al-Sharif with Yahya Sinwar, the late Hamas leader who is accused of organizing the October 7, 2023 attack that left about 1,200 people in Israel dead and about 250 others taken hostage. Israel killed Sinwar in October 2024.

Anas Al-Sharif was the face of war for millions of people, CNN: The story of the
Tent destroyed by Israeli attack

Al-Sharif was in a tent with other journalists near the entrance to Al-Shifa Hospital when he was killed on Sunday, according to the hospital's director, Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiya. The tent was marked with a "Press" sign, Abu Salmiya told CNN. The attack killed at least seven people, Salmiya added.

Al Jazeera said correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and photojournalists Ibrahim Al Thaher and Moamen Aliwa were also killed in the attack, as well as Mohammed Noufal, another staff member.

"Model of accusing journalists"

Al-Sharif's killing sparked a backlash from rights groups and officials. The Committee to Protect Journalists said it was "appalled," adding that Israel has "a long and documented pattern of accusing journalists of being terrorists without providing any credible evidence."

CPJ said 192 journalists have been killed since the war began nearly two years ago, adding: “184 of these journalists are Palestinians killed by Israel.” Since the war began, Israel has not allowed international journalists to enter Gaza to report independently.

Just hours before the attack that killed Al-Sharif and his colleagues, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that foreign journalists would now be allowed to enter Gaza, but only with the approval of and accompanied by the Israeli military, the same inclusionary policy that has been in place since the start of the war.

Anas Al-Sharif was the face of war for millions of people, CNN: The story of the

Al-Sharif was buried in Gaza on Monday in a funeral that drew large crowds of Palestinian mourners. Anticipating his death, Al-Sharif had written a will that was published by his colleagues after he was killed.

"I have experienced pain in all its details, I have experienced suffering and loss many times, yet I have never hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification... If I die, I die unwavering in my principles," he wrote.

“Don’t forget Gaza… and don’t forget me in your sincere prayers for forgiveness and acceptance.”

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