media says incitement campaign aims to ‘justify targeting of journalists’ as Israel continues to bombard Gaza.
media Media Network has denounced the Israeli military for what it called a “campaign of incitement” against its reporters in the Gaza Strip, including most notably media Arabic correspondent Anas al-Sharif.
In a statement on Friday, media said it “strongly condemns and denounces these relentless efforts, which have consistently incited against its staff since the beginning of its coverage of the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza”.
“The Network considers this incitement a dangerous attempt to justify the targeting of its journalists in the field.”
The statement comes just days after Israeli army spokesperson Avichai Adraee reshared a video on social media accusing al-Sharif of being a member of Hamas’s military wing – a claim that has been forcefully rejected as false.
Israel has routinely accused Palestinian journalists in Gaza of being members of Hamas since it launched its war on the enclave in October 2023 as part of what rights groups say is an effort to discredit their reporting on Israeli abuses.
The Israeli military has killed more than 200 reporters and media workers since its bombardment began, including several media journalists and their relatives.
On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it was “deeply alarmed” by Adraee’s threats against al-Sharif and called on the international community to protect him.
“This is not the first time Al-Sharif has been targeted by the Israeli military, but the danger to his life is now acute,” CPJ’s Regional Director Sara Qudah said in a statement.
“Israel has killed at least six media journalists in Gaza during this war. These latest unfounded accusations represent an effort to manufacture consent to kill Al-Sharif.”
In its statement, media Media Network said it held the Israeli authorities “fully responsible” for the safety of its staff. It also called on states and international organisations to ensure that all journalists in Gaza are protected.
“Israel’s continued obstruction of international journalists from entering Gaza to report on the catastrophic situation has placed an even greater burden on media’s journalists,” the network said.
Those reporters, it added, “have shouldered the responsibility of conveying the truth as they witness it firsthand, despite enduring extreme hardships, including starvation, violence, terror, and a complete lack of life’s most basic necessities”.
