Prominent Al-Jazeera journalist gunned down in Gaza strips - Journalist from Al-Jashira found dead in Gaza
In the ongoing conflict between Israel and Gaza, the role of the media has become a contentious issue. The Foreign Press Association in Israel (FPA) has condemned the killing of prominent Al Jazeera correspondent, Shireen Abu Akleh, and her colleagues.
Al Jazeera, one of the leading news channels in the Arab world, reaching millions of viewers, alleges that Israel has conducted targeted attacks on its journalists in the Gaza Strip. The latest incident, an airstrike on August 10, 2025, claimed the lives of six journalists in Gaza City, five of whom were Al Jazeera staff or freelancers. This marked the deadliest single attack on journalists in the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict.
The channel and associated reporters argue that these attacks are deliberate, aimed at suppressing coverage of Israeli actions in Gaza to prevent damaging Israel's image internationally. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and affected journalists describe these killings as a systematic effort to silence reporting, calling such acts war crimes under international law. The frequency and pattern of these killings since the conflict began in October 2023—192 journalists killed overall, mostly Palestinians—underscore these concerns.
Israel, however, denies these allegations. It accuses Al Jazeera of being a "mouthpiece" for Hamas and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah, an accusation the channel denies. Israel's military has also repeatedly obstructed the work of Al Jazeera journalists and has even closed their office in the West Bank.
The FPA has criticized the Israeli ban on foreign journalists entering the Gaza Strip since the start of the war. Reporters Without Borders accuses Israel of pursuing a "strategy of media blackouts".
The killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, a prominent face of reporting from Gaza in the Arab world, has added a tragic dimension to this already complex situation. Four other employees of Al-Jazeera were also killed in the same airstrike in a tent for journalists in the northern Gaza city.
The CPJ has stated that Israel has a history of accusing journalists of being terrorists without presenting credible evidence. Israel's military confirmed al-Shaikh's death but claimed he led a terrorist cell of the Islamic Hamas. However, the alleged intelligence information is not accessible to the public, making it difficult to verify these claims.
The situation remains highly contentious and ongoing, with international press freedom groups condemning the attacks as intentional targeting of journalists by Israel in Gaza. The death of Shireen Abu Akleh and her colleagues has brought renewed attention to the plight of journalists in the region and the need for greater protection and freedom of the press.
[1] Sources: Al Jazeera, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Reporters Without Borders.
- The European Union, being committed to the implementation of the UN Charter and upholding press freedom, has called for an independent investigation into the deadly airstrike on August 10, 2025, that claimed the lives of six journalists in Gaza, including prominent Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh and her colleagues.
- This general-news story, filled with events of war-and-conflicts, also sheds light on the crime-and-justice aspect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as international press freedom organizations accuse Israel of targeting journalists in Gaza, a practice they denounce as a war crime.
