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Silencing Messengers: Israel Kills Five Journalists

CrossFireArabia
August 11, 2025

Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohamed Qraiqea were killed Sunday, along with three other Al Jazeera journalists, in an Israeli strike targeting a journalists’ tent near the Al-Shifa Hospital in western Gaza City, according to the Gaza Media Office.

The Qatar-based channel quoted the director of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza who said, “Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohamed Qraiqea were martyred in an Israeli strike on their tent,” without providing details.

The channel later confirmed that al-Sharif and Qraiqea were killed in an Israeli strike.

Al Jazeera Media Network early Monday condemned the “planned” assassination of its correspondents and cameramen in the Gaza Strip, calling it “a desperate attempt to silence voices ahead of the occupation of Gaza.”

“The order to kill Anas al-Sharif, one of Gaza’s bravest journalists, and his colleagues is a desperate attempt to silence voices ahead of the occupation of Gaza,” it said.

Al Jazeera’s statement noted that “many Israeli army officials repeatedly incited and called for targeting Anas al-Sharif and his colleagues,” as it held “the occupation army and its government responsible for targeting and assassinating its team.”

The statement added that “the assassination of our correspondents by the Israeli occupation forces is another blatant and deliberate attack on press freedom.”

The Gaza Media Office announced in a statement that the number of journalists killed since the start of Israel’s genocide in Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, has risen to 237, following the killing of al-Sharif and Qraiqea, along with three other journalists.

It identified the other journalists killed as photojournalists Ibrahim Dahir and Moumin Alaywa and an assistant photojournalist Mohammed Noufal.

“The assassination was carried out with premeditation and deliberation, through a deliberate, intentional, and direct targeting of the journalists’ tent in the vicinity of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. This heinous crime also resulted in the injury of several other fellow journalists,” it added

The Director of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, told Anadolu that the deaths from the strike on the tent in front of the complex’s gate have risen to seven, including five journalists.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army admitted in a statement to killing al-Sharif in Gaza City, while ignoring the killing of Qraiqea and the three other journalists in the same strike.

In his will that was written Aug. 6, which he requested be published after his death, al-Sharif wrote: “This is my will, and my final message. If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice. Peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings.”

“Allah knows that I gave all the effort and strength I had to be a support and a voice for my people, ever since I opened my eyes to life in the alleys and streets of Jabalia refugee camp. My hope was that God would prolong my life so I could return with my family and loved ones to our original hometown of occupied Asqalan (al-Majdal), but God’s will came first, and His decree is carried out,” he said.

“I have lived pain in all its forms, and tasted grief and loss many times. Yet I never hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification, hoping that Allah would bear witness against those who remained silent, those who accepted our killing, those who suffocated our breath, and whose hearts were unmoved by the scattered bodies of our children and women, and who did not stop the massacre our people have been subjected to for more than a year and a half.

“I urge you to hold fast to Palestine, the jewel in the crown of Muslims, and the heartbeat of every free person in this world.

“I urge you to care for its people, for its wronged little children who were not given enough time in life to dream or to live in safety and peace, whose pure bodies were crushed beneath thousands of tons of Israeli bombs and missiles, torn apart and scattered across the walls.

“I urge you not to let chains silence you, nor borders hold you back. Be bridges toward the liberation of the land and its people, until the sun of dignity and freedom rises over our usurped homeland.

“I urge you to care for my family. Take care of the apple of my eye, my beloved daughter Sham, whom the days did not allow me to watch grow up as I had dreamed as reported by Anadolu.

“And care for my dear son Salah, whom I had hoped to support and walk beside until he grew strong enough to carry my burdens and continue the mission.

“I urge you to care for my beloved mother, whose blessed prayers carried me to where I am, whose supplications were my fortress and whose light guided my path. I pray that Allah will comfort her heart and reward her abundantly on my behalf.

“Also take care for my life partner, my beloved wife, Umm Salah, Bayan, from whom the war separated me for long days and months, yet she remained true to our bond, steadfast like the trunk of an olive tree that does not bend, patient and trusting in Allah, carrying the responsibility in my absence with all strength and faith.

“I urge you to stand by them and be their support after Allah Almighty. If I die, then I die steadfast in my principles, and I bear witness before Allah that I am content with His decree, faithful in meeting Him, and certain that what is with Allah is better and everlasting.

“O Allah, accept me among the martyrs, forgive me my past and future sins, and make my blood a light that illuminates the path of freedom for my people and my family. Forgive me if I have fallen short, and pray for me to receive mercy, for I have remained true to the covenant, never changing or wavering.

“Do not forget Gaza … And do not forget me in your sincere prayers for forgiveness and acceptance,” he wrote..

Israel is facing mounting condemnation for its genocidal war on Gaza, where it has killed more than 61,000 victims since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave and brought it to the verge of famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

News

Al Jazeera: Price For Press Freedom

CrossFireArabia
August 4, 2025

Israeli occupation forces raided Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, shortly after midnight.

They extended the office’s closure for an additional 60 days and posted a military order at the entrance.

Last September, the army also stormed Al Jazeera’s office under a military order, handed the staff a closure notice, confiscated all equipment and documents, and barred the employees from using their vehicles.

Opinion

Haaretz: US Finally Independent From Israel

CrossFireArabia
May 12, 2025

An article in Haaretz reports that Israel has suffered several blows in recent days in its historical relations with the United States. And that US President Donald Trump no longer requires Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Tel Aviv for Washington’s nuclear cooperation with Riyadh.

Adding insult to injury to the Israel occupying state, Trump has reached an agreement with the Houthis Ansar Allah group to end US military strikes on Yemen. This is plus the fact the US has began negotiations with Iran without the blessing of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Further to that a US official in the Trump administration also held direct contact with the Hamas.

However, Odeh Basharat in his Haaretz article argues that the most painful blow Israel has ever suffered was Trump’s dismissal of his National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, due to a discussion he had with Netanyahu, behind Trump’s back, about launching a military attack on Iran.

Basharat said the United States has finally begun to wake up and free itself from the shackles of Israel, and act as an independent state, not a “banana republic.” Basharat, a journalist from the Arab world, expressed his astonishment at these developments and wondered whether what was happening before his eyes was real or merely an illusion.

The writer believes that a seismic clash is taking place between the two countries and the two men, and that all the reasons are now converging. “America is gaining its independence 250 years after the beginning of its First Revolutionary War,” referring to the war that took place between 1765 and 1783, when 13 British colonies in North America rejected British colonial rule and gained their independence.

Basharat describes this emancipation as the Great American Rebellion, and attributes its causes to the fact that the world—and the United States as part of it—felt deeply concerned by what the writer, with biting sarcasm, called “Israel’s diplomatic acrobatics,” its “enlightened occupation” of the Palestinian territories, and its “closure (of the Gaza Strip) that allows only air in.”

According to the article, as soon as Israel reaches an agreement on a particular issue, it adds new conditions the next day. Although the Arab states that signed peace agreements with Israel were not required to recognize it as a Jewish and democratic state, only the Palestinians are required to do so, which, as Basharat argues, permanently relegates Israeli Arabs to second-class citizens.

According to the article, it has become clear that Netanyahu is deceiving everyone: Arabs, Jews, and Americans, not just Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, as he previously boasted to Israeli police investigators that he misled and deceived them, then bombed them.

Since the time of David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, the state’s policy has been based on force. In contrast, Trump seems to believe in a policy of carrots and sticks—meaning diplomacy and force combined—according to the article.

The author claims that the US president thinks differently, as demonstrated by his actions toward the Houthis, Iran, and the tariffs. Once he realized he had failed, he took a step back.

As for Israel, its problem does not lie solely with Netanyahu, as Basharat argues, but rather with the fact that it has not offered an alternative to force. Only three of its former prime ministers, according to the article, have taken a different path: Moshe Sharett, whom Ben-Gurion was keen to overthrow; Yitzhak Rabin, who paid for it with his life; and Ehud Olmert, who was ousted before even presenting his plan.

Furthermore, Israel has long treated the White House as a branch of its prime minister’s office, intervening in the wording of every sentence in documents issued by Washington regarding Israel, according to the Haaretz article as reported in Al Jazeera.

News

Israel Fears Hamas Ambushes in Gaza

CrossFireArabia
April 28, 2025

The Palestinian resistance has begun to translate into reality the warnings issued by the Israeli occupation army, a few days ago, of the possible escalation of operations against its forces inside the Gaza Strip, according to military expert Major-General Fayez al-Duwairi.

Al-Duwairi explained on Al Jazeera the military operations in al-Tuffah area, east of Gaza City, the “Breaking the Sword” ambush east of Beit Hanoun, followed by another ambush in the same location falls within the context of these warnings.

He said the resistance is still able to survive because of the method of battle it is waging and adapting to the movements of the Israeli army. He noted the resistance forces “are not operationally offensive, but rather tactically offensive…”

Al-Duwairi’s statement comes after the Hamas al-Qassam Brigades, announced, Sunday, it detonated an anti-personnel bomb targeting a number of Israeli soldiers, confirming they were killed and wounded east of the al-Tuffah neighborhood.

As the Qassam Brigades announced the targeting of an Israeli Merkava 4 tank with an Al-Yassin 105 missile east of Tuffah, the Al-Quds Brigades of Islamic Jihad targeted a military barracks and a number of Israeli soldiers in a house with a guided missile.

The military expert emphasized the resistance factions maintain a high level of preparedness, “albeit varying from one battalion to another,” in his comment on the intensification of operations against the Israeli army.

According to Al-Duwairi, the new Israeli Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir came up with exaggerated expectations and an approximation of “zero losses,” based on the deployment of forces in the buffer zone and then a cautious and gradual advance under intense fire.

But, the resistance began targeting Israeli forces and vehicles with ambushes and anti-personnel and anti-tank missiles as the Israeli army began to deepen its incursion into built-up areas and their rubble.

A few days ago, the Israeli Walla news website quoted military sources as saying the Israeli army reinforced its defenses at its military positions in the area.

According to these sources, the army warns of a possible escalation of Hamas operations against its forces, as the movement’s militants are expected to launch guerrilla-style operations.

The Israeli army estimates, according to Walla, that Hamas is likely to launch targeted sniper attacks, ambushes, and other complex operations.

News

52 Deaths in Gaza Due to Hunger

CrossFireArabia
April 26, 2025

The Government Media in Gaza: It states that famine has become a reality once again with 52 deaths due to hunger and malnutrition, including 50 children.

Israel restarted its war on Gaza as of 19 March, 2025. Since then it has blocked all aid entering the Gaza Strip.