‘Journalism is not a crime’ — SA journalists demand justice for slain colleagues in Gaza

Earlier this week, the world woke up to the news that six more journalists had been killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted their media tent near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Sunday, 10 August. 

Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh were killed in the attack, alongside Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal, who were both camera operators for the Middle Eastern publication. Mohammad Al-Khaldi, a local freelance reporter, and Moaman Aliwa, a camera assistant, were also killed in the airstrike.

The Israeli military released a statement claiming it had targeted Al Sharif because he allegedly headed a Hamas cell and had a role in advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF (Israeli) troops. However, the Israeli government has not provided evidence to back up these claims.

Since then, protests and vigils have taken place around the world, from London to Manila, in Cape Town and most recently in Johannesburg. Journalists, activists and members of civil society have gathered in public spaces to show support for Palestinians under siege in Gaza and pay tribute to the journalists and media workers who lost their lives documenting the crisis unfolding in the occupied territory.

On Thursday, 14 August 2025, dozens of journalists gathered outside the Al Jazeera offices in Johannesburg for a vigil in honour of the slain journalists and the hundreds of others killed since 7 October 2023. The vigil was organised by Journalists Against Apartheid to denounce the targeted killing of journalists and call for increased solidarity among media workers across the world.

During the vigil, both local and international journalists carried placards that read “Journalism is not a crime”, and wore Palestinian flags and keffiyeh scarves, which have become symbols of solidarity with the people in Gaza.

The gathered media workers placed candles and flowers near pictures of al-Sharif and his slain colleagues and held a moment of silence to honour their sacrifice.

“These journalists are models to us, they have been working in the harshest conditions for the past 22 months with no break. Despite the lack of significant international actions, despite the genocide unfolding, the forced starvation, they keep reporting tirelessly on the horrors they are, themselves, victims of,” Journalists Against Apartheid said.

Al-Sharif and his colleagues were among many Palestinian journalists who have been documenting the devastation wrought by Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip in the wake of the 7 October 2023 Hamas assault on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Since then, Israeli forces have killed more than 60,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza. This includes a large number of journalists working on the frontline.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), more than 190 journalists and media workers have been killed in the Israel-Gaza war from 2023 to 2025, more press members than were killed worldwide in the previous three years (2020 to 2022).

Targeting of journalists

Speaking to Daily Maverick, Mohammed Zahid Hassan, one of the organisers of the vigil, said that Sunday’s airstrike marked a paradigm shift for many people around the world. 

“Normally, when journalists die, it is like a freak accident, but when journalists are targeted, it changes things completely and dramatically. It is a worry and concern, especially for the rest of the journalists and citizen journalists who are in Gaza covering the story. It raises the question of whether they will be next,” Hassan said.

To illustrate the rate at which media workers are being killed in the Gaza Strip, Hassan told the story of a Syrian-Palestinian journalist who wears a shirt with the picture of friends and colleagues who have been killed covering the genocide.

“Recently she changed the T-shirt, she’s got a T-shirt of six colleagues, former Al Jazeera, who have been killed. We had a call earlier in the week, and she said she needs to change the T-shirt again to add more photos and more names to remember these people and who they were,” Hassan said.

Qaanitah Hunter, a seasoned South African journalist and founder of the Debrief Network, said that the killing of Al-Sharif and the hundreds of other journalists since October 7 2023, should serve as a wake-up call not just for the media fraternity, but also for government officials and world leaders.

“These colleagues didn’t just die; Israel killed our colleagues. They did not just die; it is part of a systematic effort to silence the voices of those there and those around the world, because when they are done there, it is going to continue,” said Hunter.

Hunter added that it was important for journalists to call out their newsrooms when they perpetuated narratives primarily from the Israeli government that normalised the killing of journalists and the people living in Gaza.

“For two years, narratives led to this list getting longer. This list was half the size when we gathered 18 months ago,” Hunter said.

Daily Maverick reached out to Al Jazeera but had not received a response at the time of publishing.

In a statement issued on 11 August, Al Jazeera Media Network condemned the targeted assassination of its correspondents in Gaza, calling it a “blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom”.

“This attack comes amid the catastrophic consequences of the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza, which has seen the relentless slaughter of civilians, forced starvation, and the obliteration of entire communities,” stated Al Jazeera.

“As Al Jazeera Media Network bids farewell to yet another group of its finest journalists, who boldly and courageously documented the plight of Gaza and its people since the onset of the war, it holds the Israeli occupation forces and government responsible for deliberately targeting and assassinating its journalists.”

Read more: ‘Deadliest place in the world to be a journalist’ — documenting Israel’s devastation of Gaza

Read more: Media under siege: The alarming toll of war on Palestinian journalists in Gaza

‘Journalism is not a crime’

Makhudu Sefara, chair of the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef), encouraged South African journalists to participate in campaigns protesting against the killing of media workers in Gaza.

“The killing of Anas al-Sharif and his colleagues… is something to be abhorred, and is something that should be condemned in the strongest terms,” said Sefara. “It’s deplorable and correctly characterised as an evil assault on press freedom and human rights.”

The targeting of journalists in Gaza placed them in a position where they may need to distance themselves from their families and even other journalists, for fear of loved ones and colleagues being caught in the crossfire, continued Sefara.

“It means as a journalist you must just be a lone ranger — working alone, staying alone. It’s not possible. This industry, this craft, the work we do requires us to speak to people, to interact with people, to extract information from people. You can’t live your life shielded or isolated from society because you must reflect what’s happening in society,” he said.

He added that “journalism is not a crime”.

Since 7 October 2023, no international journalists have been permitted entry to Gaza, other than a few controlled visits alongside Israeli soldiers that restricted independent reporting.

Palestinian journalists working in the region have been the primary source of facts and stories about the effects of bombardments by Israeli forces and the growing threat of starvation among Gazans due to the blockade on aid.

“I think that Israel is not just mistakenly or without thought killing journalists in Gaza… I think the strategy is to eliminate journalists on the ground because when you do that, you are helping to deny the world factual accounts of what’s happening. Israel can then unleash their own propaganda on the world… without any contradiction from journalists who are working in Palestine,” said Sefara.

Sanef released a statement on 11 August expressing outrage at the “continued assassination and brutal murder” of journalists in Gaza.

“Sanef calls upon all relevant international bodies and governments to exert maximum pressure to ensure the immediate cessation of hostilities against journalists, guarantee their safety and hold accountable those responsible for these heinous crimes. The world relies on journalists to bear witness and report the truth, and their protection must be paramount,” it said.

The ‘crucial’ role of international journalists

Journalists in the international community have a crucial role to play in supporting their colleagues in Gaza, especially in the face of propaganda and misinformation aimed at discrediting their work, according to Sara Qudah, regional director for the Middle East and North Africa at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

“First and foremost, they must keep the stories of Gazan journalists alive, not only by amplifying their reporting, but by continuing to credit their work and name them even after they are silenced or killed. Too often, journalists in Gaza risk or lose their lives to report the truth, only to be discredited through unproven claims of militancy. Upholding their credibility is a powerful form of resistance to this erasure,” said Qudah.

She also called on journalists to be persistent in advocating for unrestricted international media access to Gaza, adding that Israel’s “near-total ban” on foreign journalists entering Gaza since the start of the war had allowed a single narrative to dominate.

“Additionally, fact-checking and real-time debunking of propaganda is critical. When false narratives are pushed, particularly those accusing journalists of being militants without evidence, international journalists and newsrooms should actively work to verify information, challenge disinformation, and call out smears,” said Qudah.

Before 7 October 2023, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate figures said that at least 1,500 journalists were working in Gaza. The Committee to Protect Journalists has no credible estimate of how many journalists are currently working, given that many citizen journalists are volunteering to cover the situation in areas of their residence.

Qudah noted that there had been many hurdles to the Committee to Protect Journalists’ documenting of the killing of journalists in Gaza. Investigators and international media were still blocked from entering the region, and there was no one to document and gather evidence in the aftermath of each strike

“We have to rely on media reports, which don’t get into detail because killing is an around-the-clock story,” said Qudah.

“The grave reality of documenting attacks on the press in the Israel-Gaza war is that we have known of instances where whole families have been killed in strikes, leaving no one to contact to verify details of a journalist or media worker’s case. Other times, we face challenges getting hold of the outlet, or remaining family members don’t even have information about the outlets the journalists worked at.”

The international media community had failed to advocate for Palestinian journalists amid the “deadliest conflict on record for journalists”, said Qudah. She condemned global news outlets that had “largely remained silent or offered minimal condemnation” despite the unprecedented number of media workers killed.

“This lack of sustained outrage or demand for accountability has contributed to a climate of impunity. We have seen major networks rely on narratives shaped by Israeli statements while sidelining or discrediting local Palestinian reporting, with no or minimal verification,” said Qudah.

“Journalists in Gaza have not only faced extreme danger, but have also struggled to have their voices and experiences acknowledged as credible… At the very least, solidarity, visibility and consistent pressure for independent investigations should have been the norm, not the exception.” DM