Anas Al Sharif, one of the five journalists deliberately killed by Israeli forces on Sunday, knew he was a marked man. As well as a press freedom group and a UN expert previously warning that Al Sharif's life was in danger owing to his reporting from Gaza, according to his employer Al Jazeera, the 28-year-old correspondent had left a social media message to be posted in the event of his death. This read, “I never hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or misrepresentation, hoping that God would witness those who remained silent.”
The Israeli military claimed that “intelligence and documents from Gaza” proved Al Sharif, one of Al Jazeera’s most recognisable faces in the devastated Palestinian enclave, was “head of a Hamas terrorist cell” posing as a journalist. The network and journalists' groups have denied the accusations. Independently verifiable evidence of Al Sharif’s purported involvement with the militant group has yet to materialise.
The strike on the journalists’ tent near Al Shifa Hospital in eastern Gaza city fits into a pattern of lethal force being used by Israel against non-combatants it claims to be “terrorists”. Yet after such attacks, corroborating evidence is rarely presented. Attacks that prove to be too egregious, provoking international outrage, are normally followed by dissembling and obfuscation – usually an investigation that is carried out by Israel itself and is often inconclusive.
In April of last year, an international investigation revealed that Israel failed to provide evidence to support damaging allegations that staff at UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, had links to militant groups. Last month, the organisation said it had repeatedly requested from the Israeli government “information and evidence to substantiate the accusations made against UNRWA”. According to the UN agency, no answer has been forthcoming. UNRWA is a body that has suffered nearly 350 casualties from its staff since Israeli forces launched their latest campaign in Gaza, underlining the dangers that accompany Israeli accusations of involvement with armed groups.
Israel’s ruling political and military establishment may not care that killings characterised by a cavalier attitude towards evidence and justification further undermine the reputation of their country. But such attacks add more urgency to growing international calls for an immediate ceasefire and peace talks. When coupled with repeated examples of Israeli forces crossing red lines – troops tying Palestinian detainees to military jeeps or posting footage of themselves destroying civilian homes and infrastructure – it is arguable that the country is abandoning the responsibilities that come with membership of the international community.
Since Israeli forces invaded Gaza following the Hamas-led attacks nearly two years ago, the list of dead non-combatants has continued to grow. Doctors and paramedics have joined the hundreds of local journalists and UN staff killed – all in addition to the tens of thousands of civilians killed in Israeli strikes or by accompanying injury, starvation and disease. Responsible governments must prove that those they target in wartime posed an armed threat. As the tragedy of Gaza grinds on, the conclusion to be drawn from Sunday’s incident is that Israel’s government is operating with increasingly less legal or moral restraints.
