The killing of at least five Al Jazeera journalists in an Israeli strike near Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital has led to an outpour of criticism from world leaders, journalists, and activists.
Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director Gaza al-Shifa hospital director told Turkey’s Anadolu news agency that killing and displacement will now take place in the absence of voices.
“The [Israeli] occupation is preparing for a major massacre in Gaza, but this time without sound or image. It wants to kill and displace the largest number of Palestinians in Gaza City, but this time in the absence of the voice of Anas, Mohamed, Al Jazeera, and all satellite channels,” he said.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei has called on the world to hold Israel to account after the killing of the journalists.
“A press badge is no shield against genocidal war criminals who fear the world witnessing their atrocities,” Baghaei said, accusing Israel of assassinating the journalists “in cold blood”.
“Strong condemnation is the bare minimum for any decent human being, but the world must act immediately to stop this harrowing genocide and hold the criminals accountable,” he added.
“Indifference and inaction are complicity in Israel’s crimes.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, offered condolences to “the Al Jazeera family” and called for an investigation.
“We have always been very clear in condemning all killings of journalists,” Dujarric said. “In Gaza, and everywhere, media workers should be able to carry out their work freely and without harassment, intimidation or fear of being targeted.”
Hamas called Israel’s systematic killing of journalists in Gaza as “the largest and most egregious campaign of targeting media professionals ever recorded in any conflict.”
Palestinian journalist Taghreed el-Khodary has said Israel’s brazen “extrajudicial killing” of journalists is also an attempt to intimidate other reporters in Gaza from doing their jobs.
“I speak to journalists on the ground in Gaza and many of them are receiving calls from the Israeli army asking them to stop reporting,” el-Khodary told Al Jazeera from Cairo. “The story here is about stopping the Palestinian narrative. For the first time in history, the Palestinian narrative has emerged very strongly.
“By killing journalists, they are scaring others from reporting,” she continued, adding that many reporters will be forced to question their career paths.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says it is “appalled” by Israel’s killing of Al Jazeera journalists.
“Israel’s pattern of labeling journalists as militants without providing credible evidence raises serious questions about its intent and respect for press freedom,” said the CPJ’s regional director, Sara Qudah.
“Those responsible for these killings must be held accountable,” Qudah added.
Mike Balsamo, president of the US-based National Press Club, said the killing of journalists is “a loss felt far beyond one newsroom” and urged a “thorough and transparent” investigation.
“Journalists must be able to work without being targeted or killed,” Balsamo said. “All parties in conflict zones must honour their obligations under international law to protect reporters and ensure they can carry out their work safely.”
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad denounced the killing of journalists, labelling it a "heinous war crime" perpetrated by "the most brutal and criminal army in the world."
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 Jewish Council of Australia says the country’s expected recognition of the State of Palestine must be accompanied by “principled action” to stop what it calls Israel’s “intensifying genocide” in Gaza.
“You cannot endorse Palestinian statehood with one hand while supplying parts of the weapons that destroy it with the other.” Executive officer Sarah Schwartz added that Palestinians “have the right to live in safety and dignity – free from occupation, siege and fear”.
Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of the UK’s Labour Party called the killing in Gaza as “sickening beyond words” and “a desperate attempt to silence the truth about Israel’s ongoing crimes against humanity”.
“Shame on all those who empowered Israel to murder with impunity,” the member of parliament said in a social media post.
Al Jazeera identified the dead as correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Moamen Aliwa and Mohammed Noufal.
They were among seven people killed when a tent for the press outside the hospital’s main gate was targeted.
The war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is the deadliest on record for journalists, according to the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs' Costs of War project. The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said 238 journalists have been killed since the war started on October 7, 2023. The Committee to Protect Journalists said at least 186 journalists have been killed in the Gaza conflict.