An Al Jazeera journalist who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip was the leader of a Hamas “terrorist cell,” the Israel Defense Forces announced. 

Anas Al-Sharif and four of his colleagues – identified by Al Jazeera as correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa – died Sunday in what the Qatari-based network called a “targeted Israeli attack” on a tent housing journalists in Gaza City. 

“The IDF struck the terrorist Anas Al-Sharif, who posed as a journalist for the Al Jazeera network,” the Israeli military said in a statement. “Anas Al-Sharif served as the head of a terrorist cell in the Hamas terrorist organization and was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops. 

The IDF also said it “previously disclosed intelligence information and many documents found in the Gaza Strip” confirming Al-Sharif’s military affiliation with Hamas, from which “the Al Jazeera network has attempted to disassociate itself.” 

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“Intelligence and documents from Gaza, including rosters, terrorist training lists and salary records, prove he was a Hamas operative integrated into Al Jazeera,” the IDF posted on X. “A press badge isn’t a shield for terrorism.”

Al Jazeera and Al-Sharif previously rejected claims of his affiliation with Hamas, according to Reuters. 

“Al Jazeera Media Network condemns in the strongest terms the targeted assassination of its correspondents Anas Al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh … by the Israeli occupation forces in yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom,” the network said. 

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“Anas and his colleagues were among the last remaining voices from within Gaza, providing the world with unfiltered, on-the-ground coverage of the devastating realities endured by its people. While international media was barred from entering, Al Jazeera journalists remained within besieged Gaza, experiencing the hunger and suffering they documented through their lenses,” it added. 

The U.N. Human Rights Office also wrote on X that it condemned the killings and called for “immediate, safe and unhindered access to Gaza for all journalists.” 

The IDF said the documents it found in the Gaza Strip “include personnel rosters, lists of terrorist training courses, phone directories, and salary documents for the terrorist, and provide unequivocal proof that [Al-Sharif] serves as a military terrorist in Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “