Main events on August 10th

Guyana shuts up US at United Nations for defending Netanyahu on Gaza occupation

The UN Security Council held an emergency session at the request of several European countries including Slovenia, Denmark and the UK to discuss Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to occupy Gaza. While every most of the Security Council member countries condemned Israel for announcing this illegal plan, the US criticised European countries for condemning Netanyahu and accusing Israel of genocide. The representative from Guyana, who spoke right after the US woman, exposed the American hypocrisy by drawing her attention to the continuous violations of international laws by Netanyahu and his government in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Israeli settlers intensify violent campaign to drive out West Bank Palestinians

Since the October 7th attacks by Hamas, Israeli pressure on Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank has risen sharply. Settler attacks on Palestinian communities have increased and Israeli military raids have displaced thousands of people. The Israeli government justifies what is taking place as legitimate security measures to counter what it describes as Palestinian terrorism.

There’s also been an acceleration in the building of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law. Evidence based on statements by Israeli ministers and influential settler leaders suggest a deliberate agenda, to expand Jewish settlements in the occupied territories and extinguish lingering hopes of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Palestinians and human rights groups accuse the Israeli security forces of failing in their legal duty as occupiers to protect Palestinians as well as their own citizens - not just turning a blind eye to settler attacks, but even joining in.

The International Court of Justice has issued an advisory opinion that the entire occupation of Palestinian territory captured in 1967 is illegal. Israel's rejects the ICJ's view and claims that the Geneva Conventions forbidding settlement in occupied territories do not apply. That’s disputed by many of its own allies as well as international lawyers.

Al Jazeera condemns the assassination of its journalists by Israeli occupation forces

Al Jazeera Media Network condemns in the strongest terms the targeted assassination of its correspondents Anas Al Sharif and Mohammed Qraiqea, along with photographers Ibrahim Al Thaher, and Mohamed Nofal, by the Israeli occupation forces in yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom.

In a statement by the Israeli occupation force, admitting to their crimes, the journalists were targeted by a directed assault towards the tent where they were stationed opposite Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza. In which they were martyred. This attack comes amid the catastrophic consequences of the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza, which has seen the relentless slaughter of civilians, forced starvation, and the obliteration of entire communities. The order to assassinate Anas Al Sharif, one of Gaza’s bravest journalists, and his colleagues, is a desperate attempt to silence the voices exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza.

As Al Jazeera Media Network bids farewell to yet another group of its finest journalists, who boldly and courageously documented the plight of Gaza and its people since the onset of the war, it holds the Israeli occupation forces and government responsible for deliberately targeting and assassinating its journalists. This follows repeated incitement and calls by multiple Israeli officials and spokespersons to target the fearless journalist Anas Al Sharif and his colleagues.

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. Through continuous, courageous live coverage, they have delivered searing eyewitness accounts of the horrors unleashed over 22 months of relentless bombing and destruction.

Despite losing several journalists to deliberate attacks and working under constant threat, Anas Al Sharif, Mohammed Qraiqea, and their colleagues persisted in the strip to ensure the world sees the harrowing truth experienced by Gaza’s populace.

While vehemently condemning these heinous crimes and the ongoing attempts by Israeli authorities to silence the truth, Al Jazeera Media Network calls on the international community and all relevant organisations to take decisive measures to halt this ongoing genocide and end the deliberate targeting of journalists. Al Jazeera emphasises that immunity for perpetrators and the lack of accountability embolden Israel’s actions and encourage further oppression against witnesses to the truth.

Israel’s killing of Al Jazeera crew comes ahead of plan to seize Gaza City

We’re talking about the killing of an entire crew who have been covering the unfolding horror for the past 22 months and, more recently, the atrocity of the enforced starvation, the dehydration, malnourishment and death of many people, most of them children, inside health facilities in Gaza.

They were also covering the attacks on people waiting for aid in Gaza. All of these have been documented by Al Jazeera correspondents on the ground, particularly Anas and his colleague Mohammed and their entire team.

This highlights the importance of the work that is done on the ground. But the Israeli military was not happy about the coverage, because it uncovered many of its crimes on the ground.

We’re still shocked. We’re still trying to absorb what happened. It’s not just one or two; it’s an entire crew that’s been murdered by the drone strike.

Israel has not only confirmed the attack and the killing of Al Jazeera crew members in Gaza City, but it is threatening publicly that this is scoring a victory, by targeting and killing journalists on the ground.

This indicates the coming days [here in Gaza City] are going to be very difficult. Let’s be honest about what happened.

The killing of journalists on the ground is impacting how the coverage is going on, on the ground. It will definitely serve what the Israeli military is after.

UN offers condolences on Israel’s killing of Al Jazeera staff

Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, has issued a statement on the killing of Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza City.

“We send our condolences to [the] Al Jazeera family,” Dujarric said.

“We are looking into what happened in Gaza today.

“We have always been very clear in condemning all killings of journalists. In Gaza, and everywhere, media workers should be able to carry out their work freely and without harassment, intimidation or fear of being targeted. It is essential that journalists be allowed to freely access all areas of Gaza and to independently report on the situation there,” he added.

Israel killed Al Jazeera crew to ‘prevent coverage’ of Gaza City operation

Ori Goldberg, an Israeli political commentator, describes Israel’s killing of Al Jazeera’s journalists in Gaza City as a “targeted murder” and an “assassination”.

“And the motivation is only too clear,” he told Al Jazeera from Tel Aviv.

“These journalists were Gaza’s last hope of Israel’s impending operation against Gaza City to be revealed and brought to the attention of the rest of the world. When Israel assassinated Anas al-Sharif and the rest of his team, Israel was trying to intentionally prevent journalistic coverage of this impending operation,” he said.

Goldberg also called on international media to hold Israel to account.

“This is up to the standards of collegiality and professional solidarity that other journalists should have towards those very, very brave men and women who have been covering events in Gaza on the ground,” he said.

“If the international media breaks off from the narrative that most of it has been promoting so significantly, so profoundly over the past 22 months – the narrative where Hamas and the Palestinians are directly responsible for any kind of violent death or hostility, but whatever Israel does is described as some kind of mysterious element or described in the passive tense… If journalists start ascribing responsibility to Israeli actions all over the world, I believe it would be a fitting homage to the memory of Anas and the other brave journalists who died in Gaza, and it would perhaps begin making amends for what is ultimately a crime of aiding and abetting the Israeli narrative that has dominated the global media over the past 22 months.”

Palestine’s UN mission condemns killing of Al Jazeera staff

The Palestinian mission to the UN says that Israel has “deliberately assassinated” Al Jazeera journalists Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh by bombing their tent in Gaza City.

Al-Sharif and Qreiqeh were among the “last remaining journalists” in Gaza, and they have “systematically and dutifully exposed and documented Israel’s genocide and starvation”, the mission said in a post on X.

“As Israel continues to ethnically cleanse Gaza, its enemy remains the truth: the brave journalists exposing its heinous crimes,” the mission added.

Israel bombed the journalists’ tent in Gaza and deliberately assassinated the last remaining journalists, including @AnasAlsharif0 & @Mohamed_qraiqea, who have systematically and dutifully exposed and documented Israel’s genocide and starvation.

Israel killed over 230… pic.twitter.com/nqiDZMfefF

— State of Palestine (@Palestine_UN) August 10, 2025

‘Netanyahu will destroy all of Gaza unless Western countries apply sanctions’

Mustafa Barghouti, the secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will continue the genocide in Gaza and ethnically cleanse the Palestinian enclave if Western countries fail to take punitive actions against him.

“Netanyahu is getting away with it, as well as with other crimes committed in Gaza, assassinating journalists, killing doctors, nurses, professionals, civilians and children,” Barghouti said from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

“More than 60,000 children have been killed or injured now in Gaza by the Israeli army. And he is getting away with all of that because the countries in the world that claim to be holding the international law and respecting the international law, the countries who claim to be democracies, mainly Western countries, are not imposing any sanctions on him,” the politician said.

“And he will continue the destruction to the level of maybe destroying all of [the] Gaza Strip and conducting a total ethnic cleansing of the population of Gaza as long as punitive acts are not used against him.”

CPJ calls for accountability in al-Sharif’s assassination

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says it is “appalled” by Israel’s killing of Al Jazeera journalists Anas al-Sharif, Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal.

“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.

“Journalists are civilians and must never be targeted. Those responsible for these killings must be held accountable,” Qudah added.

As we reported earlier, Al-Sharif’s assassination comes after the CPJ warned that Israel was carrying out a “smear campaign” against al-Sharif, in a potential “precursor to justify assassination”.

The Committee to Protect Journalists is appalled to learn of the killing of @AlJazeera journalist @AnasAlSharif0, alongside Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal, by Israeli forces in #Gaza.
The journalists were killed in… pic.twitter.com/XQyKoaS8Dx

— CPJ MENA (@CPJMENA) August 10, 2025

Australian legislator denounces Israeli killing of Al Jazeera crew

Australian Senator David Shoebridge, a member of the Australian Greens, noted that the assassination of the Palestinian journalists comes as Israel continues to prevent foreign journalists from entering Gaza.

“Now the entire Al Jazeera team in Gaza has been murdered by Israel with the killing of Anas al-Sharif, Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal,” he said.

“Every day they try to hide the truth of the genocide they are committing,” he added.

External journalists aren’t allowed into Gaza and the entire @AlJazeera team in Gaza has been murdered by Israel with the killing of Anas al-Sharif, Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal today

Every day they try to hide the truth of the genocide they are committing

— David Shoebridge (@DavidShoebridge) August 10, 2025

Trump giving Israel ‘green light to destroy Gaza City, annex West Bank’

Mustafa Barghouti says that the US continues to prevent sanctions on Israel, despite Netanyahu’s government carrying out atrocities in Palestinian territory similar to the actions of the South African regime during apartheid.

“Of course, we are starting to see some changes, like Germany deciding to suspend any military supplies to Israel, or Spain preventing any passage of military equipment to Israel. Or Norway deciding to disinvest from Israel, but that’s not enough,” Barghouti said.

“What we need is true sanctions, similar to the way the apartheid system was sanctioned in South Africa. And the crimes that Israel is committing are way, way, way more than what happened in South Africa,” he said.

“We need each country of the world, we need each civil society in the world, to put pressure now, to exercise pressure now, on this Israeli government to stop. We already had the genocide, but we don’t want the genocide now to kill every Palestinian in Gaza.”

Barghouti, who is the secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, added that he does not believe that Donald Trump wants to make peace in Gaza, and accused the US president’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, of undermining the talks for a ceasefire. He also noted that Washington continues to supply Israel with weapons.

“He [Trump] never mentioned the word[s] ‘Palestinian states’ since he came to power in his second term, because, clearly, he is giving a green light to Israel, not only to commit a genocide in Gaza and now to destroy Gaza City completely and ethnically cleanse its people, but also, clearly, he’s giving a green light to Israel to annex the West Bank.”

A few hours before Israel assassinated five journalists, Ambassador Dr. Riyad Mansour said in the Security Council:

“Why don't you, the Security Council, take with you 100 journalists from your countries and other countries to verify exactly what is happening in Gaza? If… https://t.co/pyQNcanFFn pic.twitter.com/ajzeuogDxw

— State of Palestine (@Palestine_UN) August 11, 2025

Israel’s lies about al-Sharif endanger journalists everywhere

The best response to the killing of our colleagues is by continuing to do what we do, because this is a slap to Netanyahu and his government and his genocide in Gaza. For us to continue to report.

And I want to correct one thing, and I need our viewers and readers around the world to pay attention:

It doesn’t matter whether what Israel said about al-Sharif is correct or not.

It’s an absolute fabrication. It’s wrong. But it doesn’t matter.

Because if every American journalist who served in Iraq and Afghanistan would have been killed because there’s a suspicion that they worked for the CIA; if every French and British journalist would be killed because they work for the MI5 or something like that, then I think there will be no Western journalists working in the Middle East.

It’s not OK to kill a journalist in a tent of journalists because you accuse him of something. If you accuse him of something, you take him to court, you make a complaint, you follow certain procedures, with the network, with the International Union of journalists, and so on and so forth.

You don’t kill a journalist who has been doing their job for months on, day in, day out, night and day, and claim later that they work for Hamas.

It’s wrong, it’s a lie, it’s a fabrication as usual, but this psychopathic liar should not get away with killing a journalist and simply attaching an accusation to it.

It doesn’t wash, because otherwise, every single Western journalist covering a war that a Western government is involved in is going to be a target.

Why?

Because Israel has done it.

Before his assassination, al-Sharif issued plea about threats to his life

Anas al-Sharif was definitely aware of the dangers he faced, not only as a journalist, but as someone living through this war in the Gaza Strip.

Anas became a correspondent during the war, but before that, he was a cameraman. So he was familiar, and he lived through many of the wars that took place in the Gaza Strip.

It’s worth mentioning that time and time again, he had posted on his social media a plea to the entire world, saying that his life was in danger, that the Israeli military had started a campaign against him, and that he was scared that he was going to be killed.

And ultimately, the Israeli military targeted him for claims that were fabricated, for claims that are not true, for claims that have no evidence or backing whatsoever.

But look, this is a pattern that the Israeli military conducts. We’ve seen it before. We’ve seen it with many of our colleagues in the past. This is not the first time we’ve reported on our colleagues being killed in the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces.

Palestinian journalist slams Western media coverage of Israel’s killing of Al Jazeera crew

Rabbani, the co-editor of Jadaliyya, told Al Jazeera the real issue with Israel’s claims against al-Sharif is not the substance of the allegations, given its “consistent record of lying to cover up its crimes”, but that so many journalists accept the Israeli narrative.

“So many journalists and media organisations take these claims and fabrications by Israel as if they are serious, without ever investigating them properly, and more importantly, without ever pointing out that Israel consistently lies and fabricates in an effort to justify its crimes,” Rabbani said from Montreal.

“Many of the reports I’ve read about these killings lead with the Israeli claims, which is outrageous because, you know, they’re not even seriously interrogated, nor are they placed in a context of a history of consistent and systematic Israeli lies and fabrications.”

He added, “Yes, all states, all governments, all militaries, lie during wartime. That’s propaganda.

“But Israel, I think, has an almost unique record in this respect, because it knows it can just make up its own reality, say whatever it wants, and it will be reported as serious news by its stenographers in the Western media.”

That's because the Western media is complicit and owned by those supporting the genocide.

‘A war crime, plain and simple’: CAIR condemns Israel’s latest killing of journalists

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has condemned Israel’s killing of five Al Jazeera journalists and called on US and international media workers to “stand in solidarity” with their Palestinian colleagues.

“Israel’s ongoing campaign of targeted assassinations of Palestinian journalists is a war crime, plain and simple,” CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement.

“The murder of these Al Jazeera journalists is not an accident or collateral damage – it is part of a consistent, documented policy of silencing media voices and hiding the truth of the genocide being carried out by Israel in Gaza,” Awad said.

Since October 2023, Israel has killed more than 200 journalists in Gaza in the deadliest conflict ever recorded for reporters.


_{A journalist inspects the damage at the site of the Israeli assault on the tent near al-Shifa Hospital that killed five Al Jazeera staff, including Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, in Gaza City, August 11}


Israeli forces bombed al-Sharif’s home and killed his father in 2023

Israel’s assassination of al-Sharif comes more than a year after it bombed his family home in the Jabalia refugee camp and killed his 65-year-old father, Jamal al-Sharif.

At the time, our colleague promised to continue his work.

“Despite all of this, and despite the targeting of my home and the killing of my father, I will continue to cover from Jabalia refugee camp and from northern Gaza,” al-Sharif said.

US legislator says US must stop arming Israel after journalists killed

US Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said “the US must stop providing weapons for this genocide” after its “latest strike killed 5 journalists including a prominent Al Jazeera journalist”.

“The Israeli military has killed more than 200 journalists and media workers,” Jayapal said in a post on social media.

Jayapal, a Democrat, has joined with her colleague Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib to push for restrictions on US weapons sales to Israel, including through a bill introduced by the pair in April.

The Israeli military has killed more than 200 journalists and media workers. The latest strike killed 5 journalists including a prominent Al Jazeera journalist. The US must stop providing weapons for this genocide. https://t.co/EYwnBxFHu8

— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) August 11, 2025

Trying to ‘scare journalists from reporting’

Palestinian journalist Taghreed el-Khodary has said Israel’s brazen “extrajudicial killing” of Anas al-Sharif 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. “I know one journalist that says, ‘I only want to write. I don’t want to be in front of the camera, because the moment I am in front of the camera, Israel will kill me.'”

She added: “This is a criminal act by Israel.”


_{Aftermath of deadly Israeli strike on journalists’ tent camp}

Gaza media ban lets Israeli authorities claim ‘fake news’

Israeli journalist and writer Akiva Eldar says barring both foreign and Israeli reporters from entering Gaza allows the government to accuse the media of spreading “fake news” about conditions in the territory.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Tel Aviv, Eldar said: “You can come up with all kinds of explanations, pretexts why they don’t allow [journalists into Gaza]. But, you know, we are in the same boat. Israeli journalists are not allowed to go there.

“And I think that the reason is that this way they can blame the international media for fake news. Like Netanyahu said, he accused the media of telling stories about famine that doesn’t exist.”

Eldar noted that international journalists have appealed to Israel’s Supreme Court against the ban, but the court “dragged their feet for months” and will not hear the case until October, giving the government “full protection”.

Sixth journalist killed in Israeli attack last night

A sixth journalist, Mohammad al-Khaldi, was killed in last night’s air attack outside al-Shifa Hospital alongside the five Al Jazeera staff, Reuters reports, quoting hospital staff.

Press rights group Reporters Without Borders described al-Khaldi as “the creator of a YouTube news channel”.

Gaza hospital director says Israel killed journalists to hide planned ‘massacre’

Israel has killed the Al Jazeera journalists to prevent coverage of atrocities it intends to carry out, the director of al-Shifa Hospital says.

“The [Israeli] occupation is preparing for a major massacre in Gaza, but this time without sound or image,” Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya told Turkiye’s Anadolu news agency.

“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.

As we’ve been reporting, Israel has announced plans to seize Gaza City, which is expected to forcibly displace nearly a million Palestinians.

Israeli claims about Anas al-Sharif ‘don’t make sense’

Meron Rapoport, a veteran Israeli journalist and editor of the Local Call news site, has said the Israeli military’s accusation that Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif was a Hamas member “doesn’t make sense at all”.

“The Israeli explanations are, at best, very lacking,” Rapoport told Al Jazeera from Tel Aviv. He said that if the claims were true, Israel would have been expected to have targeted or arrested al-Sharif a long time ago.

He said Israel likely targeted al-Sharif now because of two main factors – first, his important role in “telling the world that there is famine in Gaza”, which “really hurt Israel internationally”; and, second, because of the planned upcoming invasion of Gaza City, which Israel wants to minimise coverage of.

“We don’t know exactly when, but Netanyahu promised it will come – and the less eyes and the less cameras and the less voices that will document this, what could be really a slaughter … is better for Israel,” Rapoport said.


RSF denounces Israel’s killing of Al Jazeera staff, urges UNSC meeting on protection of journalists

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is the latest organisation to condemn Israel’s killing of the five Al Jazeera staff in Gaza.

In a statement, the press freedom group said it “strongly condemns the murder of Al Jazeera reporter Anas al-Sharif, claimed by the Israeli army, in a targeted strike on a tent sheltering him near al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, which killed five other media professionals and wounded three others”.

RSF said Israel tried to justify the killing by using the “well-known tactic” of accusing its target – in this case al-Sharif – “of being a terrorist, without producing any solid evidence”.

RSF, which previously warned that “unfounded accusations” against al-Sharif put him “at high risk of being targeted” by Israel, blamed the European Union, United Kingdom and United States for turning “a deaf ear”.

“The United Nations Security Council must hold an emergency meeting on the basis of Resolution 2222 of 2015 on the protection of journalists in armed conflict,” the group said.

“Without strong action by the international community to stop the Israeli army, which is the subject of four complaints filed by RSF with the International Criminal Court for war crimes committed against journalists in Gaza, we risk seeing more such extrajudicial killings of media professionals.”

‘Israel has turned Gaza war into a slaughterhouse for Palestinian journalists’

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor has also expressed its condemnation of the killing of Al Jazeera’s journalists, reporting that its field team in northern Gaza said Israel used a drone strike to carry out the assassinations.

“Israel’s claim of responsibility for killing Anas al-Sharif underscores its blatant disregard for international law and starkly illustrates the consequences of impunity fostered by the international community’s policy of support and silence,” said the Geneva-based monitor.

“Israel has turned its horrific 22-month war on the Gaza Strip into a slaughterhouse for Palestinian journalists, systematically targeting them and their workplaces in an effort to enforce a total media blackout across the enclave.”

🧵Euro-Med Monitor strongly condemns Israel’s killing of five Al Jazeera crew members in the #Gaza Strip, including correspondents @AnasAlSharif0 and Mohammed Qreiqeh pic.twitter.com/VEvYXkyTAe

— Euro-Med Monitor (@EuroMedHR) August 11, 2025