The Israeli military confirmed it had targeted Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif - a prominent journalist who had covered the war from inside Gaza.
Mohammed Qreiqeh, another Al Jazeera journalist in Gaza, was also killed along with camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa.
“The order to kill Anas Al-Sharif, one of Gaza’s bravest journalists, along with his colleagues, is a desperate attempt to silence voices ahead of the occupation of Gaza,” Al Jazeera said in a statement after the attack.
Israel accused Al-Sharif of leading a Hamas cell that “advanced rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops”.
In the minutes before he was killed, Al-Sharif said on social media, “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.”
Al-Sharif was in a tent with other journalists near the entrance to the Al-Shifa Hospital when he was killed, according to hospital director Dr Mohammad Abu Salmiya.
The tent was reportedly marked with a ‘Press’ sign.
The strike also damaged the entrance to the hospital’s emergency department.
Hundreds of people, including many reporters, gathered to mourn the journalists' deaths outside Shifa Hospital.
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Video at Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bpNSpUy9lI