What to know about the 6 journalists killed covering Israel's war in Gaza

Driving the news: Israel's military targeted and killed 28-year-old Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif on Sunday along with four others at the outlet, the network reported.

• The Israeli military said it killed al-Sharif, a prominent reporter who extensively covered the war, after accusing him of leading a Hamas cell, an allegation that al-Sharif, press advocates, and the U.N. had rejected.
• The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in July that it was "gravely worried" for al-Sharif's safety following the Israel military's allegations, characterizing them as a "smear campaign," which Al-Sharif "believes is a precursor to his assassination."

Here's what to know:

Who were the six journalists killed this week

Al Jazeera said that the Israeli military killed correspondents al-Sharif and Mohammed Qraiqea, cameramen Ibrahim Zaher and Moamen Aliwa, and Mohammed Noufal.

• The network called the strike a "desperate attempt to silence the voices exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza" and a "targeted assassination."
• A sixth journalist, local freelance reporter Mohammad al-Khaldi, was also killed in the strike, multiple outlets reported.

Context: Al Jazeera is among the few outlets with a large team of reporters inside Gaza, who are able to chronicle fatalities from Israel's strikes and its blockage, the Associated Press noted.

• Israel has largely restricted international journalists from reporting in Gaza.
• Israel "ruthlessly smears, threatens, obstructs, targets and kills the few local journalists remaining as the only eyes of the outside world on the ongoing genocide," Irene Khan, the U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of expression, said in July.

What they're saying: Multiple press advocacy organizations, including CPJ and the Freedom of the Press Foundation, condemned Israel for the strike.

• CPJ and the U.N. have noted that the IDF makes unsubstantiated terrorism allegations against Palestinian journalists that they later kill.
• "CPJ classifies such cases as murder," the organization said.

The U.N. said on X that "we condemn the killing by Israeli military of 6 Palestinian journalists by targeting their tent, in grave breach of international humanitarian law," adding that "Israel must respect & protect all civilians, including journalists."

Who was Anas al-Sharif

Al-Sharif worked for Al Jazeera for about two years, multiple outlets reported.

• He is survived by his wife, Bayan, their four-year-old daughter, and one-year-old son. His father was killed in an Israeli airstrike shortly after al-Sharif began working for Al Jazeera, the network said.
• A post on al-Sharif's official Instagram account shows a picture with the journalist and his children. According to the caption, it was the first time meeting his son after 15 months of war.
• Mohamed Moawad, managing editor at Al Jazeera, told BBC that al-Sharif was the "only voice left in Gaza City."

Flashback: Al-Sharif cried on air while reporting on the starvation crisis in July, drawing international attention, after which the Israeli military's accusations ramped up.

• In one instance, an IDF spokesperson posted footage of al-Sharif crying and accused him of "propaganda" and being part of a "false Hamas campaign on starvation."
• Irene Khan said that al-Sharif was killed with "no evidence, ever, put forward that he was anything but a journalist," per Al Jazeera.

Minutes before the strike, al-Sharif posted to X, "If this madness does not end, Gaza will be reduced to ruins, its people's voices silenced, their faces erased — and history will remember you as silent witnesses to a genocide you chose not to stop."

The number of journalists killed

By the numbers: The exact death toll of journalists since October 7 is unclear, but analysts estimate between about 190 and 270 Palestinian fatalities.

• The CPJ says at least 192 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed during the war.
• Gaza's government media office estimates 238 journalists.
• Shireen.ps, a monitoring website organized by Palestinian journalists, estimates that over 270 media professionals have been killed (counting three Lebanese and two Israeli fatalities).

Brown University's Watson Institute in April said "the war in Gaza has, since October 7, 2023, killed more journalists than the U.S. Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War (including the conflicts in Cambodia and Laos), the wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990s and 2000s, and the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan, combined."

• "It is, quite simply, the worst ever conflict for reporters," the researchers said.