The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) strongly condemned the targeted killing of six journalists in Gaza by an Israeli drone strike on August 10, calling the attack “unacceptable” and demanding a thorough investigation, according to United Nations (UN) latest announcement.
Five of the six worked for Al Jazeera including correspondents Anas Al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, plus camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa. Mohammed Al-Khaldi was a freelance photojournalist. They were killed when Israeli forces struck a media tent at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said targeting journalists violates international law.
The Israeli Defense Forces claimed 28-year-old Al-Sharif was a Hamas operative, but Al Jazeera strongly denied this and called the attack an “assassination.” UN experts had already flagged Israeli military threats against Al-Sharif in July as attempts to endanger his life and silence his reporting. The attack comes as Israel continues barring international media from entering Gaza, limiting coverage of the ongoing conflict.
Two UN special rapporteurs condemned the killings as “an attempt to silence reporting on the ongoing genocide and starvation campaign” in Gaza. “It is outrageous that the Israeli army dares to first launch a campaign to smear Anas Al-Sharif as Hamas in order to discredit his reporting and then kill him and his colleagues for speaking the truth to the world,” the experts said. They demanded immediate investigation into the killings and full access for international media.
UNESCO chief Azoulay stressed that targeting journalists reporting on conflicts is unacceptable and violates international law. She called for respect of UN Security Council Resolution 2222, adopted unanimously in 2015 to protect journalists and media workers in conflict situations. The resolution requires all parties to conflicts to ensure journalists can work safely.
Since October 2023, UNESCO reports at least 62 journalists and media workers killed in Palestine while performing their duties, while the UN human rights office says at least 242 Palestinian journalists have died in the same period.
