An Israeli airstrike in Gaza City has killed Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif. The Israeli military claims al-Sharif was a senior Hamas commander involved in planning rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers. According to the army, intelligence reports and documents recovered in Gaza support this claim.

However, Al Jazeera and Palestinian journalist organizations have rejected the allegations as baseless, calling the strike an attempt to silence the voice of a journalist reporting from the ground.

At the time of the attack, al-Sharif was inside a tent near al-Shifa Hospital in eastern Gaza City, along with four fellow journalists and an assistant. Gaza officials and Al Jazeera say two other people were also killed in the strike.

The other journalists killed alongside al-Sharif have been identified as Mohammad Karika, Ibrahim Zaher, and Mohammad Noufal. Al Jazeera described al-Sharif as “the youngest journalist in Gaza” and one of the last remaining voices bringing the harsh realities of Gaza to the world.

Just minutes before his death, al-Sharif posted on X (formerly Twitter) that Israel had been heavily bombing Gaza City for more than two hours.

Hamas has called the killing the beginning of a larger Israeli assault on Gaza, stating in a release: “Killing journalists and intimidating survivors paves the way for Israel’s major crimes in Gaza.”

According to Gaza’s Hamas-run Government Media Office, 237 journalists have been killed since the war began on October 7, 2023.