IDF confirms it killed Al Jazeera reporter accused of being a Hamas cell leader

The IDF confirms carrying out a strike in Gaza City that killed Anas al-Sharif, an Al Jazeera reporter who the military says is a “terrorist operating under the guise of a journalist.”

“The terrorist Anas al-Sharif served as a cell leader in the Hamas terror organization and advanced plans for rocket fire against Israeli civilians and IDF forces,” the military says in a statement.

The IDF notes that in October, it published documents seized in Gaza that it says “unequivocally” confirm Sharif’s “military affiliation with Hamas.”

At the time, the military said Sharif headed a rocket-launching squad and was a member of an elite Nukhba Force company in Hamas’s East Jabalia Battalion.

“These documents serve as proof of the terrorist’s integration into the Qatari Al Jazeera media network,” the IDF says.

Al Jazeera has fiercely denied Israel’s allegations and accused it of systematically targeting Al Jazeera employees in the Gaza Strip.

In the strike this evening, the military says it took steps to mitigate civilian harm, including “the use of precision munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence information.”

Al Jazeera confirms Sharif’s death along with fellow journalist Mohammed Qreiqeh and videographers Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa in the strike, which it says targeted a tent near Shifa Hospital.

Minutes before being killed, Sharif documented Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City and posted footage to social media.

“Relentless bombing… For two hours, the Israeli aggression on Gaza City has intensified,” he wrote on X.

قصف لا يتوقف…
منذ ساعتين والعدوان الإسرائيلي يشتد على مدينة غزة. pic.twitter.com/yW8PesTkFT

— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) August 10, 2025