Israel Kills Six More Journalists in Gaza

Two weeks ago today, I wrote in this newsletter about the growing hunger crisis in Gaza, and the toll that it was taking on journalists in the territory. I noted that staffers at Agence France-Presse had just warned that their colleagues on the ground were starving to death, and quoted the testimony of other reporters, including Anas al-Sharif, of Al Jazeera, who had written online that he was “drowning in hunger, trembling in exhaustion, and resisting the fainting that follows me every moment.… Gaza is dying. And we die with it.” While the specter of starvation was dominating news coverage out of Gaza at the time, I also pointed out that journalists there were still facing the same acute threats that have rained down on them since Hamas attacked Israel from the enclave on October 7, 2023, and Israel responded with devastating force. As evidence, I pointed to the case of al-Sharif, who, since crying on air while covering the hunger crisis, had been labeled a terrorist by an Israeli military spokesperson. The Committee to Protect Journalists had just warned that it was “gravely worried” about al-Sharif, dismissing the Israeli claims against him as “smears” and warning that the “unfounded accusations represent an effort to manufacture consent” to kill him.