Resistance Movements Condemn Israel’s Massacre of Journalists in Gaza

Israeli forces killed five Al Jazeera staff, including Al-Jazeera correspondents Anas Al-Sharif and Mohammed Qareqa, as well as photographers Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Nofal, in a targeted strike on their media tent outside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Sunday evening. Two other people were also killed.

Shortly before being killed, al-Sharif, a well-known 28-year-old Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who had reportedly extensively covered from northern Gaza, wrote on X that Israel had launched intense, concentrated bombardment – also known as “fire belts” – on the eastern and southern parts of Gaza City.

In his last video, the loud booms of Israel’s intensive missile bombing can be heard in the background as the dark sky is lit in a flash of orange light.

In a final message, written on April 6, to be published in the event of his martyrdom, al-Sharif said he “lived the pain in all its details” and “tasted grief and loss repeatedly”.

“Despite that, I never hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or misrepresentation, hoping that God would witness those who remained silent, those who accepted our killing, and those who suffocated our very breaths,” he said.

“Not even the mangled bodies of our children and women moved their hearts or stopped the massacre that our people have been subjected to for over a year and a half.”

Hamas described the actions of the Israeli army as a savage crime that exceeds all boundaries of fascism and criminality.

It emphasized that the slain journalists had documented Israel’s starvation crimes and portrayed the famine being imposed on the people in Gaza.

Hamas warned that the assassination of journalists is aimed at silencing the media, paving the way for a major crime that Israel plans to commit in Gaza City.

The movement called on the international community, the UN Security Council, and journalists worldwide to condemn the regime’s actions and take immediate steps to stop them.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad also denounced the killing of journalists, labeling it a "heinous war crime" perpetrated by "the most brutal and criminal army in the world."

The group held both Arab and Western governments accountable for their failure to stop Israel's atrocities and asserted that this escalation reflects the occupation's rejection of all efforts to achieve a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange deal.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine stated that the attack confirms that "truth is a direct enemy of the occupation," calling it a full-fledged war crime.

The PFLP viewed the assassination as a "dangerous indicator" of the occupation's intention to commit further crimes in Gaza while eliminating media coverage.

It criticized the hypocrisy of the occupation in claiming to permit foreign press into Gaza while executing local journalists whose only tools were "a microphone and a camera."

The Front declared that international silence on such crimes amounts to a "partnership in the crime" and urged international press unions and human rights organizations to seek accountability in international courts.

The Popular Resistance Committees in Palestine (PRC) mourned the journalists, honoring Anas Al-Sharif as an "icon of Palestine" whose work exposed the "Zionist holocaust."

The Committees asserted that the assassination contradicts Netanyahu's propaganda and demonstrates that the "Zionist entity fears the word, the image, the camera, and the pen."

Pledging to continue on the path of the martyrs, the PRC affirmed that their struggle will persist until the "entity of murder, fascism, and Zionist crime" is eradicated.

Fatah al-Intifada expressed sorrow for the "martyrs of truth," stating that targeting journalists constitutes a "blatant violation of human rights and freedom of the press."

The movement claimed the primary objective of such attacks is to "blind the world to the crimes" and eliminate witnesses documenting the "genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza." It called for international protection for media workers to ensure their safety while performing their duties.

The Palestinian Mujahideen Movement strongly condemned the brutal assassination of several journalists by the Zionist enemy near Al-Shifa Medical Complex.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Journalists Protection Center (PJPC) condemned the heinous crime, noting that the assassination of Al Jazeera's correspondents followed months of Israeli incitement against them.

The Center called for an "independent and transparent international investigation" into the ongoing targeting of journalists in Gaza to ensure accountability and an end to the "policy of impunity."

It also demanded that the international community provide "immediate and effective protection for Palestinian journalists."