THE Gaza Strip has become a graveyard for journalists as well, with Israel intentionally murdering those who dare to report on the atrocities it is committing in the occupied Palestinian territory. On Sunday night, Zionist forces attacked a journalists’ tent outside the al-Shifa Hospital, murdering at least six media persons. Five of them worked for Al Jazeera, including award-winning correspondent Anas al-Sharif. This was no accident, as al-Sharif had been a marked man due to his reporting, with Israeli officials earlier calling him out by name, accusing him of being a Hamas fighter — an allegation refuted by his employer. Meanwhile, the Committee to Protect Journalists had termed the Israeli campaign against the reporter a “real-life threat”. Sadly, it is clear that Israel can literally get away with murder after calling anyone a Hamas fighter; perhaps the tens of thousands of innocent children that Tel Aviv has butchered in Gaza’s wasteland were also seen as militants worthy of death by the Zionist entity.

As the CPJ has put it, “Israel is murdering the messengers”. Foreign media cannot enter Gaza thanks to a blockade enforced by Israel. Hence, the brave voices that remain in this devastated Strip are targeted by Tel Aviv for doing their jobs, particularly exposing the barbarity of the Israeli regime. According to Al Jazeera, over 270 media workers have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 2023, most of them Palestinians. Multiple family members of media workers have been wiped out by the Zionists, including that of Wael Dahdouh and Moamen al-Sharafi. Even before the atrocities in Gaza, Israel had no qualms about murdering Palestinian journalists, such as Shireen Abu Akleh, who was targeted in Jenin in 2022. Still, despite the immense dangers to themselves, and while dealing with the loss of family members and colleagues murdered by Israel, these brave men and women continue to discharge their professional duties. It is due to their efforts that we know of Gaza’s starving children, its bombed hospitals, its maimed and bloodied citizens. Tel Aviv is exacting revenge on Palestinian journalists for telling the truth, and smearing them as militants. Will the standard-bearers of free press and expression in the West and elsewhere demand justice for Anas al-Sharif and hundreds of Palestinian media workers murdered in the line of duty? Or will the criminal silence continue?

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2025