The killing of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif has devastated those who knew him as more than just a journalist, according to PA Media. Ahmed Najar, a Palestinian economist originally from Gaza, reflects on losing a neighbour who became the lifeline connecting him to his homeland during its darkest hour.
Al-Sharif and Najar shared the same origins in Jabalia refugee camp, where both were born among crowded lanes scarred by decades of displacement and war, as The Independent reports. Though they never shared coffee or walked Gaza's streets together, their connection ran deeper through shared roots and the bond of exile watching home through a screen, according to PA Media.
Award-winning journalist under threat
Al-Sharif was part of the Reuters team that won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography, according to The Evening Standard. The Committee to Protect Journalists had expressed concern for his safety last month, highlighting the dangerous conditions facing reporters in Gaza.
For 677 days, Najar watched al-Sharif report from Gaza's heart while the rest of the world looked away, according to PA Media. When Israel cut communications and plunged Gaza into darkness, al-Sharif's voice broke through like oxygen, delivering not just news but fragments of home to those in exile.
The Israeli army repeatedly threatened al-Sharif, warning him to stop reporting from northern Gaza and telling him his life was in danger, as PA Media reports. Despite knowing such threats in Gaza are never empty, he refused to be silenced and continued documenting every bombing, destroyed home, and lifeless child carried from ruins.
Fatal attack at hospital
On 10 August 2025, an Israeli airstrike hit a tent outside al-Shifa Hospital where al-Sharif and colleagues were covering famine and starvation gripping Gaza, according to The Independent. The strike killed al-Sharif along with four other journalists: Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal, and driver Moamen Aliwa, as PA Media reports.
Israel had accused al-Sharif of being Hamas-affiliated, an allegation he consistently denied and which Najar describes as "absurd", according to The Evening Standard. Al-Sharif spent most of 23 months reporting live on camera with his location always known, making the accusations particularly baseless.
Systematic targeting pattern
The killing represents part of a relentless pattern, with over 230 journalists killed in Gaza since October 2023, making it the deadliest conflict for media workers in modern history, according to PA Media. Most victims were Palestinian reporters who served as the sole remaining eyes and ears for the outside world after international journalists were banned from entering Gaza.
The targeting extends beyond journalists to over 400 aid workers, including UN staff and Palestinian Red Crescent volunteers, plus more than 700 medical professionals, as PA Media reports. Hospitals, clinics, ambulances, and clearly marked convoys have been systematically destroyed or rendered inoperative.
Personal loss and enduring legacy
For Najar, the loss carries deep personal weight as someone who shared al-Sharif's refugee camp upbringing and stubborn will to survive, according to PA Media. Through al-Sharif's reporting, those in exile could feel close to Gaza, watching someone who carried the burden of speaking for an entire people while living the nightmare alongside those he reported on.
Al-Sharif showed the world mothers digging through rubble for children, fathers carrying tiny bodies wrapped in white cloth, and children searching for food among debris - all without flinching or sanitising the horror, as PA Media reports. His courage, words, and example must remain a rallying cry not just for press freedom, but for justice itself.
Sources used: "PA Media", "The Independent", "The Evening Standard"
Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
