“So, we’re deeply concerned about these reports, as we are about so many of the reports of death and destruction in Gaza.”

Protests have been held in the West Bank city of Ramallah following the killings of Anas al-Sharif (left) and Mohammed Qreiqeh (right) in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday. Source: AP / Nasser Nasser

Media rights groups and countries, including the United Kingdom, condemned the attack.

Reporters Without Borders, a media freedom group, also strongly condemned the killing of al-Sharif.

According to the International Federation of Journalists, at least 195 journalists and media workers have been killed in the Hamas-Gaza conflict since October 2023. Source: SBS News

Meanwhile, the United Nations Human Rights Office said the actions by Israel’s military represented a “grave breach of international humanitarian law”.

‘One of Gaza’s bravest journalists’

In a statement, Al Jazeera said al-Sharif was “one of Gaza’s bravest journalists” and called the attack a “desperate attempt to silence voices in anticipation of the occupation of Gaza”.

“The death of any journalist in a conflict zone is serious.”

Israel has not allowed international journalists into Gaza to report freely throughout the conflict, leading news outlets to rely on local reporters within the enclave for coverage.

CPJ says at least 186 journalists have been killed since the escalation of the Hamas-Israel conflict in October 2023 — the deadliest period for journalists since it started recording such data in 1992.

PM says ‘too many innocent lives lost’

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told ABC News he couldn’t comment on the specific incident but that “too many innocent lives have been lost in Gaza”.

There have been 517 humanitarian workers killed in Gaza and 7 humanitarian workers killed in Israel since October 2023. Source: SBS News

“There have been too many journalists, people who are aid workers as well, providing assistance, including, of course, an Australian citizen, lost in the past couple of years.