Geneva – SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties stated that the killing of journalists Anas al-Sharif, Mohammed Qreiqah, Ibrahim Zaher, Moamen Aliwa, and Mohammed Nofal constitutes further evidence of Israel’s systematic targeting of Palestinian media and its attempt to erase the truth. The organization noted that this crime comes within the framework of an open war on journalism, where journalists in Gaza have become direct targets of a plan to silence the Palestinian voice and deprive the world of live testimony on the crimes being committed.

SAM reported that the Israeli army admitted to targeting Anas al-Sharif, claiming he belonged to Hamas—an argument that does not strip the act of its illegality nor justify targeting him as a journalist covering the war.

SAM highlighted the statement made by the head of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, who said: “Anas al-Sharif had submitted, two days earlier, a written testimony to the syndicate regarding threats he received from the occupation,” which, SAM stressed, confirms that his killing was premeditated and deliberate.

It stressed that shelling journalists while they were carrying out field work is a blatant violation of international humanitarian law and a breach of the principle of protecting journalists in armed conflict zones.

The organization considered this systematic approach to assassinating media professionals, including photographers and correspondents, a war crime that reflects a deliberate intent to obscure facts and prevent the transmission of the reality of human suffering in Gaza.

It affirmed that targeting journalists, even in the presence of political or security allegations against them, does not relieve the occupying forces of their legal and moral obligations, and that international law does not permit using such claims as a pretext to justify extrajudicial killings.

SAM cited the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor as saying that the killings came just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a press conference in which he incited against the media and spoke about his intention to proceed with the crime of taking control of Gaza—clearly signaling a decision to silence voices that reveal the truth to the world.

The organization pointed out that this crime is part of an escalating war on Palestinian journalism, where targeting journalists in Gaza is no longer isolated incidents but a systematic policy aimed at suppressing the truth and blocking the transmission of the Palestinian humanitarian reality.

It further stated that the continued targeting of journalists at their workplaces or even in shelters increases the risks to press freedom and turns Gaza’s journalistic environment into a deadly one by all measures—raising the number of journalists killed since October 7, 2023, to 236, a dangerous indicator of the determination to silence voices and conceal the truth.

SAM quoted Abdelmajid Mrari, a member of the legal team representing victims of the Israeli occupation before the International Criminal Court, as saying: “Israel’s admission to assassinating Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqah, along with photographers Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Nofal, while they were in a journalists’ tent outside Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Medical Complex, is not merely an acknowledgment of an incidental incident—it is an explicit admission of committing a systematic war crime carried out in cold blood against the voices of truth. This targeting requires international accountability and punishment.”

The organization added that Israel’s public declaration of responsibility for killing journalist Anas al-Sharif reflects the dangerous extent of its disregard for international law, and is a blatant expression of the consequences of impunity resulting from the international community’s policy of support and silence, which enables and greenlights such crimes, according to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.

SAM called on the international community and UN bodies concerned with press freedom to take urgent action to condemn these crimes and stop the targeting of Palestinian journalists. It also urged the prosecution of those responsible for these violations before the International Criminal Court, the imposition of international sanctions on the Israeli political and military leadership involved, and the provision of effective protection for journalists working in conflict zones.