Israel: IDF must stop slandering Gaza’s journalists
Attempts to discredit journalists are "war of attrition against the media".
The International Federation of Journalists has condemned unproven allegations being made against journalists in Gaza that puts their lives at risk.
The NUJ backs the IFJ’s call for international bodies to protect Palestinian journalists from being criminalised.
On 24 July, Avichai Adraee, the Israeli Army’s Arabic language spokesperson, shared on social media a video accusing Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Anas Al-Sharif of being a member of Hamas’ military wing.
Al-Sharif has been reporting on the Gaza war since it began in October 2023 and is now covering the starvation of Gazans. If is not the first Al-Sharif has been the targeted: in November 2023, Israeli officers threatened the journalist and told him to stop reporting and move to the south of the Gaza Strip.
On 25 July Al Jazeera denounced a smear campaign by the Israeli military against its journalists in Gaza, and particularly, against Al-Sharif, calling Israel’s incitement, “a dangerous attempt to justify the targeting of journalists in the field”.
Due to Israel’s ban on foreign media, local reporters are the only ones bearing witness to atrocities in Gaza and have become the target of hateful threats by the Israeli military. In October 2024, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) published the names and photos of six Al Jazeera journalists on social media and labelled them, “Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists”.
At the time the IFJ strongly condemned the allegations and called on technology platforms to take appropriate measures to remove such messages.
One of the six reporters accused by the IDF was Al Jazeera contributor Hossam Shabat. He was killed in March 2025, when an Israeli airstrike hit his car in Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza.
Séamus Dooley, NUJ assistant general secretary, said:
“Truth is inevitably the first casualty of war and professional journalists are vigilant in distilling propaganda from all sources. The attempts to discredit journalists by Israel is not only disturbing it is also dangerous and puts lives at risk. The number of journalists already killed is shocking.
“The NUJ shares the deep concern of the International Federation of Journalists in relation to Israel's actions towards journalism. These concerns pre-date the Hamas attack of October 2023. This is now becoming a war of attrition against the media. We need to see an end to the targeting of journalists in Gaza, accompanied by an end to the embargo on international media by Israel.”
IFJ general secretary Anthony Bellanger said:
“According to Article 79 of the Geneva Convention, journalists in war zones must be treated as civilians and protected as such. We reiterate that the contravention of this article is a war crime, which can lead to the deliberate assassination of civilians, including journalists. Our colleague Anas Al-Sharif and all journalists in Gaza must be protected. The Israeli military must end its attacks on the press and stop threatening and attacking journalists.”
If you want to help journalists and media workers in Gaza, please donate to the IFJ Safety Fund: here.