The Targeted Killing of Al Jazeera Journalists and Media Colleagues in Gaza |
Source: WAFA News Agency
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August 12th, 2025
Justice For All Canada condemns Israel’s killing of Al Jazeera journalists Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh in Gaza alongside three more Al Jazeera colleagues. This was a targeted attack on a media tent for journalists opposite Al-Shifa Hospital. Al-Sharif was notably a recipient of Amnesty International’s Human Rights Defender Award.
The targeted strike also claimed the lives of camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and assistant Moamen Aliwa.
Israel admitted responsibility and falsely claimed, without evidence, that al-Sharif was a “Hamas member”. Such post-mortem allegations constitute a well-documented pattern in which Israel labels slain journalists as “combatants”. According to the Watson Institute at Brown University, more journalists have been killed in Gaza since October 2023 than in both World Wars combined. Since October 7th, 2023, at least 242 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed. The killing of Anas al-Sharif is also part of a broader pattern where journalists working for non-Western outlets receive less urgency and recognition from Western governments and media when they are targeted or killed. Justice For All Canada condemns both the scale of loss and impunity as a severe assault on press freedom.
Canada is a member of the Media Freedom Coalition and a financial supporter of UNESCO’s Global Media Defence Fund. These commitments would normally require Canada to unequivocally denounce the killing of journalists and demand accountability. However, Canada’s statement on yesterday’s devastating event conveniently avoided naming Israel as the perpetrator, nor did it include any concrete policy response. The government’s decision to fall short on these obligations continues to normalize Israeli impunity for attacks on the press, especially during an ongoing genocide.
We urge Canada to:
We urge the Canadian government to take concrete, unambiguous action against those who deliberately attack press freedoms.
Justice For All Canada condemns Israel’s killing of Al Jazeera journalists Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh in Gaza alongside three more Al Jazeera colleagues. This was a targeted attack on a media tent for journalists opposite Al-Shifa Hospital. Al-Sharif was notably a recipient of Amnesty International’s Human Rights Defender Award.
The targeted strike also claimed the lives of camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and assistant Moamen Aliwa.
Israel admitted responsibility and falsely claimed, without evidence, that al-Sharif was a “Hamas member”. Such post-mortem allegations constitute a well-documented pattern in which Israel labels slain journalists as “combatants”. According to the Watson Institute at Brown University, more journalists have been killed in Gaza since October 2023 than in both World Wars combined. Since October 7th, 2023, at least 242 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed. The killing of Anas al-Sharif is also part of a broader pattern where journalists working for non-Western outlets receive less urgency and recognition from Western governments and media when they are targeted or killed. Justice For All Canada condemns both the scale of loss and impunity as a severe assault on press freedom.
Canada is a member of the Media Freedom Coalition and a financial supporter of UNESCO’s Global Media Defence Fund. These commitments would normally require Canada to unequivocally denounce the killing of journalists and demand accountability. However, Canada’s statement on yesterday’s devastating event conveniently avoided naming Israel as the perpetrator, nor did it include any concrete policy response. The government’s decision to fall short on these obligations continues to normalize Israeli impunity for attacks on the press, especially during an ongoing genocide.
We urge Canada to:
- Demand an independent, international investigation into the killing of Anas al-Sharif and his colleagues.
- Call on Israel to cease targeting journalists and to uphold its obligations under international law.
- Impose targeted sanctions on individuals and entities responsible for carrying out attacks on journalists in Gaza and Occupied Palestine.
- Suspend all military exports to Israel under a permanent, comprehensive 2 way arms embargo.
- Activate diplomatic influence through its association with and support of numerous international press freedom mechanisms to coordinate a collective state response to the killings of journalists in Gaza. This includes the Media Freedom Coalition, UNESCO’s Global Media Defence Fund, the Global Conference for Media Freedom, the Global Task Force for Public Media, and its partnerships with IFEX and Journalists for Human Rights.
We urge the Canadian government to take concrete, unambiguous action against those who deliberately attack press freedoms.