Press freedom in Gaza under ‘massive threat’

Martin Roux, head of the Crisis Desk at Reporters Without Borders (RSF), says the latest deadly attacks on journalists in Gaza highlight the extent of the Israeli army’s impunity.

“What we witnessed last night with this targeted strike against Anas al-Sharif that also killed five other journalists is something we have seen on July 31, 2024 – when Israeli forces killed Al Jazeera’s Ismail al-Ghoul and his cameraman Rami al-Rifi,” Roux told Al Jazeera.

Israeli forces used “the exact same tactic, starting with a smear campaign against the journalists, to then justify their murder”, he said.

“We’ve reached a point to where press freedom in Gaza is under massive threat,” Roux added, describing as “horrific” the total number of media workers killed in the territory. According to Shireen.ps, a database compiled by Palestinian journalists, at least 269 journalists and media workers have been killed by Israeli attacks since the start of the war.

RSF has urged the United Nations Security Council to hold an emergency session on the matter, Roux said, to find ways to hold Israel accountable and protect Palestinian journalists from further killings.

UNRWA chief accuses Israel of silencing Gaza’s journalists

Philippe Lazzarini has condemned Israel’s repeated targeting of journalists in Gaza, saying the army continues to “silence voices reporting atrocities” from Gaza.

In a statement, the commissioner general of UNRWA said he is “horrified” by the killing of another five journalists in Gaza City, including Al Jazeera’s correspondent Anas al-Sharif.

He noted that more than 200 Palestinian journalists have been killed with total impunity since Israel’s assault on Gaza began, underscoring the absence of accountability.

Lazzarini also denounced Israel’s longstanding ban on the entry of international journalists, about 22 months in effect, and said international media “must get into Gaza” to support the “heroic work” of Palestinian journalists.

“The Israeli Army continues to silence voices reporting atrocities from #Gaza.

I am horrified by the killing of another 5 journalists in Gaza city.

Since the war began, more than 200 Palestinian journalists have been reported killed in total impunity.

Israel is also blocking… pic.twitter.com/i2CTwnErcg

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 11, 2025

‘I am scared for my dad’: Video of Anas al-Sharif’s daughter resurfaces after his killing

A video of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif’s daughter has resurfaced following his assassination by Israeli forces.

The clip, which had been posted on al-Sharif’s X account on June 16, shows four-year-old Sham speaking from the northern Gaza Strip and is accompanied by the caption: “My little Sham Anas Al-Sharif’s message to the world, after 620 days of the war of extermination in Gaza: How can this small heart bear these heavy burdens?! Our children are the fruits of pain ripened by the war!”.

In the video, the girl says: “I am the child Sham Anas al-Sharif from the northern Gaza Strip. I am four years old. I have lived through the war.

“The occupation bombed us and bombed the houses. Netanyahu doesn’t want to stop the war. I wish I could go back to our home in Jabalia.

“The occupation bombed our house and killed my grandfather [Sidou]. I want to live like the children of the world. The occupation keeps bombing us.

“We want the war to end because we are tired. We want food. We want chicken. We want meat. We want water. We want everything. I am scared for my dad because of the bombing. We want the war to stop. We call on the world. End the war.”

رسالة صغيرتي شام أنس الشريف للعالم، بعد 620 يومًا على حرب الإبادة في غزة:
كيف لهذا القلب الصغير أن يحمل هذه الهموم الثقيلة؟!
أطفالنا ثمارُ الألم التي أنضجتها الحرب! pic.twitter.com/gIrjzdXVCO

— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) June 16, 2025

HRW and Amnesty decry killing of journalists in Gaza

Prominent global rights groups Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have strongly condemned the targeted killings of Palestinian journalists in Gaza.

Human Rights Watch denounced the “brazen targeted killing”, which it said underscored both the “unimaginable peril” faced by Palestinian journalists and the Israeli military’s “complete disregard for civilian life”.

“Rather than killing voices reporting on its atrocities in Gaza, Israel should stop committing them,” the US-based group said.

Amnesty said Sunday night’s attack constitutes a “war crime” as it mourned the killing of the Al Jazeera journalists, including al-Sharif, who had been recognised with Amnesty International Australia’s 2024 Human Rights Defender Award.

“Words cannot capture our grief at the cruelty of deliberately targeting journalists,” said Mohamed Duar, Amnesty International Australia’s spokesperson.

“Israel isn’t just assassinating journalists but attacking journalism itself by preventing the documentation of genocide,” he added.

Duar said the journalists have been working under “the most dangerous conditions on Earth”.

“At great risk to their lives, they have remained to show the world the war crimes being committed by Israel against almost two million Palestinian women, men and children,” he added.

Know their names: Journalists killed since start of war

UN rights expert urges action after ‘outrageous’ killing of Al Jazeera journalists

Irene Khan, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression, slammed Israel’s latest killing of Al Jazeera’s journalists, saying it was “absolutely outrageous”.

The Israeli army starts “a smear campaign [against Anas al-Sharif, claiming] he’s part of Hamas and so on, and then that journalist gets killed,” Khan told Al Jazeera.

Al-Sharif was killed “with prior warnings, with hints”, but with “no evidence, ever, put forward that he was anything but a journalist,” Khan said.

Israel must allow the international media in to verify what is happening, she added.

Khan said “everything” unfolding in Gaza right now amounts to “genocide”.

“People are dying now, journalists are being silenced through assassination … children are starving to death,” Khan said. “Immediate action must be taken by the powerful governments who are friends with Israel.”

If Israel had evidence to support al-Sharif allegations, it would release it: UN official

Irene Khan, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression, said that Israel killed Anas al-Sharif over his work as a journalist and that Israeli claims he was a Hamas member are totally unsubstantiated.

“If they had real evidence [of this], do you not think that they would put it out, up front, right away in the international arena? Of course they would. But why are they not doing that? Because they don’t have that evidence,” she told Al Jazeera.

“They simply [say] that any journalist who is reporting on Gaza must be a ‘Hamas member’, just as anyone who criticises Israel has to be ‘anti-Semitic’.

“That’s the way that Israel silences the world from criticising them or holding them to account.”

Israel’s Smotrich says Netanyahu’s plans for Gaza City’s seizure don’t go far enough

The Israeli government-approved plan to seize Gaza City and forcibly displace nearly a million Palestinians is too limited, far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says as he pushes for a broader military takeover.

“You cannot take the army, put it into this manoeuvre that could have a high price and then stop in the middle,” Smotrich said in comments carried by The Times of Israel.

Seizing larger swaths of the territory and settling them is “the only way to maintain security,” argued Smotrich, who has long advocated for Israel to rebuild settlements in Gaza.

Still, Smotrich said he would not abandon Netanyahu’s coalition for now because he believes “its course can be changed”.

Israel ‘will know how to conquer Gaza City’, army chief says

Israel’s army chief Eyal Zamir has told his commanders that the war on Gaza is entering a new phase after the directive from political leaders to seize Gaza City in a stated effort to defeat Hamas.

The Israeli military “will know how to conquer Gaza City, just as we knew how to conquer Khan Younis and Rafah”, he said, referring to the largely-levelled cities in southern Gaza, during a situation assessment meeting, according to a statement by the army.

“Our forces have manoeuvred there in the past, we will know how to do it again.”

However, Zamir said invading Israeli soldiers must have some “breathing space” between deployments in order to be able to carry out their duties.

Australia to recognise Palestinian state in September

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says his government will recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September.

“Today, I can confirm that at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September, Australia will recognise the state of Palestine,” he said at a news conference.

“Australia will recognise the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own.”

Here it is, all Israeli talking points and further propagating lies about eduction.

Albanese says PA agreed to ‘significant commitments’ for recognition of state

The Australian prime minister says that Australia has secured “detailed and significant commitments” from the Palestinian Authority (PA) as conditions for its plan to recognise Palestinian statehood.

The PA, which currently governs the occupied West Bank, agreed to the following, according to Albanese:

Nothing but a ploy to derail the 2-state solution. This is not what self-determination looks like. The PA is a tool of the Israeli occupation.
2019: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20191030-the-pa-is-doing-israels-dirty-work-thats-why-it-was-created/

Australia’s recognition of Palestine doesn’t go far enough, minor party says

The Australian Greens, the fourth-largest party in Australia’s Parliament, has welcomed Canberra’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state, while criticising the government for failing to “meet the moment”.

“What Australia has done today is take a tiny step away from a shrinking and discredited minority of states, centred on the US and Israel, to join the overwhelming majority of nations that already recognise Palestine,” David Shoebridge, the Greens spokesperson on foreign affairs, said in a statement.

“Genocide is not a communications problem; an escalating series of statements will not end it. By contrast, ending the two-way arms trade as part of a comprehensive sanctions regime would have a significant impact. If Australia stopped exporting F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel, over time, Israel’s fleet of 40 F-35 fighter jets, being used to bomb Gaza, would be grounded.”

“This announcement, while welcome, will not meet the overwhelming calls from the Australian public for the government to take material action,” Shoebridge said.

Australia’s recognition of Palestine a ‘political fig leaf’, advocacy group warns

Australia’s plan to recognise the State of Palestine is being used as a “political fig leaf to deflect from the urgent legal obligations Australia must uphold under the Genocide Convention”, the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) has said.

APAN President Nasser Mashni accused Canberra of shielding Israel from accountability for “genocide and apartheid” while normalising relations with “the apartheid, genocidal state”.

“This recognition comes while Israel is committing an ongoing genocide in Gaza, which has been livestreamed to the world for almost two years,” Mashni said.

Mashni added that recognition is meaningless while Australia continues to arm, trade with, diplomatically protect and encourage other states to normalise relations with Israel.

He called for sanctions, an arms embargo, suspension of trade, and legal action against Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“There is no peace without justice for Palestine. And there is no justice for Palestine until Western states, including Australia, end the genocide by ending their own complicity in Israel’s genocide and apartheid,” Mashni said.

Jewish Council of Australia urges action against ‘intensifying genocide’, Palestine recognition

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.

In a statement, the council said the recognition next month should not be “merely symbolic” and must be matched with measures that include sanctions, an arms embargo, suspension of all military contracts with Israel and ending the supply of components for F-35 fighter jets used in attacks on Gaza.

Executive Officer Sarah Schwartz said: “You cannot endorse Palestinian statehood with one hand while supplying parts of the weapons that destroy it with the other.” She added that Palestinians “have the right to live in safety and dignity – free from occupation, siege and fear”.

The council accused Israel of almost two years of bombardments, forced displacement and deliberate starvation in Gaza and said Israel had “admitted to deliberately assassinating” Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif and four of his colleagues.

Advisory Committee member Antony Loewenstein called the killings “a war crime” and urged the international community to protect Palestinian journalists from “Israel’s belligerence”.

Italy’s defence minister says Israel’s government has ‘lost its humanity’

Guido Crosetto has said Israel’s actions in Gaza are “unacceptable” and show that its government has “lost its reason and humanity”.

“We are not facing a military operation with collateral damage, but the pure denial of the law and the founding values of our civilisation,” the Italian defence minister told La Stampa daily in an interview published today.

“We are committed to humanitarian aid, but we must now find a way to force Netanyahu to think clearly, beyond condemnation,” he said.

Asked about possible international sanctions against Israel, Crosetto said “the occupation of Gaza and some serious acts in the West Bank mark a qualitative leap, in the face of which decisions must be made that force Netanyahu to think.”

He added: “We must always distinguish governments from states and peoples, as well as from the religions they profess. This applies for Netanyahu, and it applies to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, whose methods, by now, have become dangerously similar.”

France’s Macron warns Israel’s Gaza City plan ‘heralds disaster of unprecedented gravity’

French President Emmanuel Macron has criticised Israel’s plans to seize Gaza City, calling them “a disaster of unprecedented gravity waiting to happen”.

Last week, Israel’s security cabinet approved plans that could lead to the forcible displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, drawing a chorus of condemnation from human rights experts and the UN.

Macron said the announcement of the expansion of military operations in Gaza City and the al-Mawasi camps farther south along the coast also heralds “a move towards a never-ending war”.

“The Israeli hostages and the people of Gaza will continue to be the primary victims of this strategy,” he added in remarks sent by his office to reporters that included a proposal to create an international coalition under a UN mandate to stabilise the territory.

Norwegian wealth fund ends Israel asset management contracts

Norway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the largest in the world, has announced it is cutting ties with asset managers in charge of its Israeli investments after an urgent review last week over ethics concerns linked to the war on Gaza.

The fund, which had faced criticism for including an Israeli firm that provides parts to Israeli fighter jets being used in Gaza, said it has also divested parts of its portfolio over the situation in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Speaking about the planned review of the fund last week, Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg said: “The war in Gaza is contrary to international law and is causing terrible suffering, so it is understandable that questions are being raised about the fund’s investments” in the Israeli manufacturer.

‘We are being destroyed’

As we’ve been reporting, Israeli forces and US contractors are continuing to kill Palestinians seeking aid at distribution points run by the notorious GHF and near UN trucks bringing in supplies.

Among those killed on Sunday was Ismail Qandil’s son.

Qandil, speaking at the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, said his son was unarmed and was looking for food when he was killed. “He had no bullets, no weapon to shoot with. What did we do? What did we do for this to happen to us? Enough with the hunger and genocide. They’ve wiped us out, enough,” he said.

“We are in a famine. We are being slaughtered. We can’t carry on. We send our sons to bring food, and they kill them. We are not members of the resistance, and we are not members of movements or anything. We are being destroyed,” he added.