Qatar’s PM Condemns Israel Over Deaths of Al Jazeera Staff in Gaza
“The deliberate targeting of journalists by Israel in the Gaza Strip reveals how these crimes are beyond imagination, amid the inability of the international community & its laws to stop this tragedy,” Sheikh Mohammed wrote on X.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani on Monday condemned what he described as the deliberate targeting of journalists by Israel in the Gaza Strip, calling it a crime “beyond imagination.”
“The deliberate targeting of journalists by Israel in the Gaza Strip reveals how these crimes are beyond imagination, amid the inability of the international community & its laws to stop this tragedy. May God have mercy on journalists Anas Al-Sharif, Mohammed Qraiqea, & their colleagues,” Sheikh Mohammed wrote in a post on X.
The deliberate targeting of journalists by Israel in the Gaza Strip reveals how these crimes are beyond imagination, amid the inability of the int'l community & its laws to stop this tragedy. May God have mercy on journalists Anas Al-Sharif, Mohammed Qraiqea, & their colleagues.
— محمد بن عبدالرحمن (@MBA_AlThani_) August 11, 2025
His remarks followed the deaths of five Al Jazeera staff members in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday that struck a tent for journalists outside the main gate of a Gaza City hospital, according to the Qatar-based broadcaster.
The victims included 28-year-old Anas al-Sharif, one of Al Jazeera Arabic’s most prominent correspondents, fellow journalist Mohammed Qreiqeh, and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and Moamen Aliwa. Press freedom watchdogs say the incident is part of a wider pattern in the 22-month Gaza war, during which around 200 media workers have been killed.
The deadly Israeli strike on Al Jazeera staff in Gaza also killed a Palestinian freelance journalist, the civil defense agency and a hospital director said Monday, bringing the death toll to six.
The Israeli military confirmed it targeted al-Sharif, accusing him of being a Hamas operative who “posed as a journalist” and led a militant cell responsible for rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and troops. Rights groups, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, have strongly condemned such claims, warning that labelling journalists as militants without evidence undermines press freedom and endangers reporters.
The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate denounced the attack as a “bloody crime” of assassination.
Qatar, which funds Al Jazeera, has long had tense relations with Israel and serves as a host for Hamas political leaders, as well as a venue for indirect negotiations between the two sides.
