ReportWire

Tag: Al-Jazeera

  • Record number of journalists killed in 2025, two-thirds by Israel, claims CPJ report

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    The Committee to Protect Journalists’ annual report described 86 journalist deaths at the hands of Israel, figures that the IDF has since denounced.

    A record 129 journalists and media workers were killed in the course of their work in 2025, two-thirds of them by Israel, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) detailed in its annual report on Wednesday.

    It was the second consecutive year-on-record for press deaths, according to the CPJ, an NY-based nonprofit organization whose aim is to promote press freedom worldwide.

    The report also claimed that the IDF has committed more targeted killings of journalists than any other government’s military since the CPJ began its documentation in 1992.

    The IDF strongly rejected the claims, stating that it “does not intentionally harm journalists or their family members.”

    “The report is based on general allegations, data of unknown origin, and predetermined conclusions, without considering the complexity of combat or the IDF’s efforts to mitigate harm to non-combatants,” it said.

    Mourners carry the body of Palestinian journalist and employee of the Egyptian Committee killed in an Israeli airstrike on Wednesday, during there funeral in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, January 22, 2026. (credit: Ramadan Abed/Reuters)

    The CPJ reported 86 journalist deaths caused by Israel in 2025, with 55 of them having been Palestinians in Gaza and the rest in a Houthi media center in Yemen, which the IDF described as a propaganda arm of the terror group.

    At least 104 of the 129 journalists died in connection with conflicts, according to the report.

    Apart from Gaza and Yemen, the deadliest countries for journalists include Sudan, where nine were killed, and Mexico, where six died. Four Ukrainian journalists were killed by Russian forces compared to 15 in 2022, and three died in the Philippines, the report said.

    Terrorists pose as journalists, IDF claims

    Among the killed journalists included in the report are Hussam al-Masri, a contractor for Reuters killed in an attack on Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, and Hossam Shabat, a sniper from Hamas’s Beit Hanoun Battalion posing as an Al Jazeera journalist.

    The IDF claimed that, alongside the Shin Bet, the military was able to expose Shabat’s ties to Hamas and the al-Qassam Brigades, the terror group’s military wing, by revealing internal Hamas documents proving his participation in military training in 2019.

    In August 2025, the IDF confirmed the death of Anas al-Sharif, a Hamas terrorist who also worked as an Al Jazeera correspondent inside the Gaza Strip.

    Al-Sharif, who was identified by the military as a member of Hamas since 2013, was killed near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. He was found responsible for aiding the terror organization’s rocket attacks.

    According to a study conducted late last year, 60% of individuals who identified as journalists and were killed during the war in Gaza were members of or affiliated with terrorist organizations, primarily Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, contradicting claims made by Hamas and various non-governmental organizations.

    The research was conducted by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, and examined 266 media workers reported killed between October 7, 2023, and November 30, 2025.

    Shlomo Mofaz, the center’s director, said that “the issue of Hamas’s propaganda is a high priority, and it uses a lot of media outlets abroad to talk about it.”

    “The narrative of harming journalists is like the number of deaths – when you check the facts and figures, it’s not like that. About 60% is definitely a very high figure,” he said.

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  • Israel ‘trying to drag’ Syria into a conflict, senior regime official claims

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    “We will not be a launching pad for threatening neighboring countries, but we will spare no means to confront and deter Israeli aggression,” Syria’s information minister reportedly said.

    Israel is attempting to “drag” Damascus into a confrontation through multiple provocations, a senior Syrian intelligence official, Hamza al-Mustafa, claimed on Saturday, Al Jazeera reported.

    “Israel is miscalculating when it thinks it can impose facts on the ground,” he claimed. “We are not ashamed to say that we are not in a position of strength, especially after liberation, and we want to focus on rebuilding the country.

    “We will not be a launching pad for threatening neighboring countries, but we will spare no means to confront and deter Israeli aggression.”

    Syrian officials condemn Israeli operations

    Speaking on the incident inBeit Jen, in which a number of IDF soldiers were wounded while arresting two terror suspects earlier this week, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani claimed Israel “threatened regional peace and security.”

    Calling the incident a violation of Syrian sovereignty and international law, he demanded that the United Nations and Arab League put an end to the situation.

    The comments came as the minister met with his Danish counterpart.

    Syria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ibrahim Alabi, condemned Israel’s operation earlier.

    This is a developing story.

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  • For Gaza’s fishermen, the sea is their last lifeline after Israel’s war

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    Surrounded by three walls on a land of ruins, as Israeli bombs continue to rain down from the skies, for many in Gaza, the sea remains the only open horizon, a shimmering promise of elusive freedom.

    Its waters, and the fish within them, have long nourished Palestinians cut off from the world, partially easing the pain of Israel’s bombardment, punishing siege and starvation policies.

    Targeting a meal for his family, Salem Abu Amira – known to locals as “The Beast” – dives deep beneath the waves. Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim Alkhalili reports from Gaza City.

    “People here call me ‘The Beast’ because I managed to catch a fish that was more than a metre and a half [5ft] long. It is rare – but the truth is I’ve caught many big fish,” Abu Amira tells Al Jazeera.

    Free diving runs in Salem Abu Amira’s blood. He learned the craft from his father at a young age – a skill passed down through generations and a lifeline for his family.

    Before Israel’s war, Gaza’s fishermen sailed far out to sea, where the waters teemed with fish. In 2020, the World Bank estimated that about 18,000 people in Gaza directly depended on fishing for their livelihoods, with an extended effect on more than 110,000 family members.

    But Israel’s genocidal war decimated that and their lives.

    Salem Abu Amira, known to locals as ‘The Beast’, prepares to freedive off the coast of Gaza [Al Jazeera]

    “We can no longer reach the places we used to. Now we can only fish close to the shore – where there are no big fish,” Abu Amira says.

    “Restrictions have been imposed on us since the beginning of the war and continue to this day. But I have no source of livelihood. I can’t just sit at home waiting for someone to support me,” he adds.

    Before the war, Gaza’s fishermen hauled in more than 4,600 tonnes of fish each year, despite the constant risk of being arrested, injured, or killed by Israeli forces.

    Since the war began, more than two years ago, most of their boats have been destroyed. The Ministry of Agriculture told the United Nations in a report that as of December 11, 2024, the Israeli military had killed 200 fishers and their associates out of approximately 6,000 individuals engaged in the fishing profession.

    Those still trying to cast their nets just metres (some feet) from the shore have come under Israeli fire.

    Gaza's local fishermen preparing their boats before going out at sea [Al Jazeera]

    Gaza’s fishermen prepare their boats before going out to sea [Al Jazeera]

    In January, Israel declared Gaza’s waters a “no-go zone”, banning fishing, swimming, and any access to the sea.

    The result has been devastating: Gaza has lost 94 percent of its catch, cutting off one of its last remaining sources of food.

    Fishing, once a vital source of both income and nourishment, has been brought to its knees.

    “Fishermen are the most exposed to danger. Often, the occupation forbids them from going to the sea, and free divers cannot get their diving gear – which affects their ability to work in the coming days,” Zakaria Bakr, head of the Fishermen’s Committees in Gaza, told Al Jazeera.

    After months of displacement, Abu Amira has returned home – restless, hungry for a catch, and preparing his small boat to venture back into the waters.

    Fishing in Gaza

    Salem Abu Amira making a catch under Gaza’s waters [Al Jazeera]

    “The Beast” will dive again, searching for fish he can sell at the market. For fishermen like him, the sea isn’t just a workplace, it’s a lifeline.

    “I am determined to pass on my profession to my children. It is a pleasure and a hobby. Fishing relieves stress and provides a source of income,” he says.

    After hours in the water, Salem surfaces with a lucky catch: Several fish and an octopus to feed his family and sell in the market.

    For Gaza’s fishermen, the struggle is no longer just about survival. It’s about preserving a centuries-old bond with the sea, and holding on to the last sense of freedom they have left.

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  • Graveyards are now last option shelters in Gaza for Palestinians amid ruins

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    Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians who lack shelter or a home to return to after Israel destroyed their residences across Gaza are pitching tents in graveyards as a last resort, as the humanitarian catastrophe in the enclave remains acute despite a fragile ceasefire deal.

    “This graveyard wasn’t meant for the living,” Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said, reporting from the southern city of Khan Younis. “But today, it’s home to dozens of families who have nowhere else to go.”

    Khoudary said Palestinians were camping at the site “not because they want to, but because it’s the last free space available.”

    “Graveyards have become shelters not out of choice, but out of desperation,” she added.

    Rami Musleh, a father of 12 who was displaced from the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoon could not find any viable option other than the graveyard.

    “For parents, the emotional toll is heavy. The psychological trauma of war is made worse by having to raise children among tombstones,” Musleh told Al Jazeera.

    With no safe shelter left and no land to return to, many families in Gaza are now pitching tents inside graveyards [Screen grab/Al Jazeera]

    Another resident, Sabah Muhammed, said the cemeteries have now lost all their sacredness.

    “Graveyards, once sacred spaces for the dead, are now silent witnesses to a living crisis. No water, no electricity, and no privacy … only the bare minimum to survive,” she told Al Jazeera.

    “In Gaza, even the land for the dead is now the only refuge for the living.”

    According to the United Nations, at least 1.9 million people – or about 90 per cent of the population – across the Gaza Strip have been displaced during the war. Many have been displaced repeatedly, some 10 times or more.

    Palestinians in southern Gaza are squeezed into overcrowded shelters as Israel issued forced orders for residents of northern Gaza and Gaza City to evacuate and then bombarded many as they fled south.

    The price of renting even a square meter of land to pitch a tent is prohibitive for many displaced Palestinians, who lack a stable income and are dependent on scarce humanitarian assistance.

    UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinians, said 61 million tons of debris now cover Gaza and entire neighbourhoods have been erased. It said families were searching the ruins for shelter and water.

    While a fragile ceasefire has been in effect since October 10, Israel is continuing to heavily restrict humanitarian aid into Gaza. The International Court of Justice on Wednesday ruled Israel must allow aid into Gaza, stating it cannot use starvation “as a method of warfare”.

    Aid is mainly being channelled into the central and southern parts of the Gaza Strip through the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing, while none of the crossings in the north have been opened.

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  • Marwan Barghouti’s son says family fears for his life in Israeli prison

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    Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti is taken away under escort September 29, 2003 in Tel Aviv, Israel [File: Uriel Sinai/Getty Images]

    The son of prominent Palestinian political leader Marwan Barghouti says he fears for his father’s life in Israeli prison amid witness reports that he was beaten by guards last month.

    In an interview with Al Jazeera on Thursday, Arab Barghouti accused Israel of targeting his father because he is a unifying figure among Palestinians.

    “We do fear for my father’s life,” Arab said from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

    Earlier this week, the family told media outlets that they had received testimonies from Palestinian detainees released as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal that Barghouti was beaten by guards in mid-September as he was being transferred between two Israeli prisons.

    Arab told Al Jazeera that the attack is the fourth time since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023 that his father has been assaulted in Israeli detention.

    “They are targeting him,” said Arab, explaining that Israel sees his father as “a danger” because of his ability to bring Palestinians together.

    A prominent member of Fatah, the Palestinian political faction that dominates the Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs limited parts of the occupied West Bank, Barghouti has been in Israeli prison since the early 2000s.

    He is serving five life sentences plus 40 years on murder and attempted murder charges, which he has consistently denied.

    A Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research poll from May found that Barghouti was the most popular Palestinian leader, garnering more support than Hamas official Khaled Meshaal and PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

    Palestinians had called for Barghouti to be released as part of the recent Gaza ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, but Israel refused to free him.

    As part of the deal, Israel released 250 Palestinians serving life sentences, several of whom were sent into exile abroad. About 1,700 Palestinians who were detained in Gaza and transferred to Israeli detention facilities during the Gaza war were also freed.

    One of the released prisoners, Mohammad al-Ardah, told Al Jazeera Arabic that Israeli forces would carry out “barbaric” raids in the prisons each week, severely beating Palestinian detainees.

    “The latest reports we heard about the great leader Marwan Barghouti is that they broke three of his ribs,” al-Ardah said.

    The Israeli authorities have denied that Barghouti was beaten in September, with the Israel Prison Service telling BBC News that it “operates in accordance with the law, while ensuring the safety and health of all inmates”.

    But Arab, Barghouti’s son, said the Israeli authorities have no credibility.

    He also pointed to an August video that showed far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatening Barghouti in prison, as evidence that the Israeli government is trying to “silence” his father’s voice.

    “We know that [Ben-Gvir] showed him an electric chair on his phone and he told him, ‘This is your fate’ … If that’s not a threat to his life, I don’t know what is,” Arab told Al Jazeera on Thursday.

    Meanwhile, Barghouti’s son said the family has repeatedly asked Israel to allow international lawyers and the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit his father in prison, but their requests have been denied.

    “They see him as a danger … because he wants to bring stability, he wants to end the cycle of violence. He wants a unifying Palestinian vision that is accepted by everyone, and the international community, as well,” Arab said.

    “They [Israel] know what my father represents, and they don’t want that. They don’t want a partner for peace.”

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  • Hamas official: Israel altered prisoner lists, warns Netanyahu will renew war

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    Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad accused Israel of changing prisoner lists under the deal, warning that Netanyahu may resume the Gaza war

    Senior Hamas political bureau member Ghazi Hamad, speaking to Al Jazeera from Cairo on Sunday night, accused Israel of “playing with and changing” the lists of Palestinian prisoners slated for release under the emerging ceasefire-for-hostages deal, and warned that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would “return to aggression” in Gaza without sustained international pressure.

    He urged Arab states and mediators to “restrain the Zionist madness” and ensure full implementation of the agreement.

    Hamad said Hamas was coordinating with Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, and in contact with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), to carry out the exchange “as stated in the agreement,” but alleged that Israeli delays in verifying names on documents sent to the parties were creating obstacles.

    He nevertheless said the process was “moving in a good direction” and that Hamas would “do everything we can” to make both the prisoner exchange and the wider deal succeed.

    His claims came amid mounting disputes over prisoner lists. Israel’s Justice Ministry published 250 names of Palestinian prisoners set for release as part of the deal, while Palestinian officials said no final roster had been agreed upon, highlighting ongoing friction over the criteria and sequencing of releases.

    Ghazi Hamad, member of Hamas Political Office, delivers remarks on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, during a press conference in Beirut, Lebanon, October 28, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/AMR ALFIKY)

    Al Jazeera Arabic reporting on Sunday also amplified Palestinian assertions that Israel was trying to impose its own terms on the prisoner file, with sources saying Hamas continued contacts via Cairo, Doha, and Ankara to amend the Israeli-published list.

    The ICRC has reiterated that any exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners must be conducted safely and with dignity, underscoring the organization’s neutral role in transfers and family reunifications under the ceasefire framework.

    20 Israeli hostages to be freed

    The remarks came as Israel and Hamas prepared for the next phase of the agreement. Israeli officials and international media reported that 20 living Israeli hostages were expected to be freed on Monday in parallel with large-scale prisoner releases, part of a broader truce architecture brokered with the help of Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey.

    Hamad’s interview echoed past Hamas statements describing Netanyahu as a “war criminal,” rhetoric the group has used repeatedly while rejecting Israeli conditions tied to disarmament or postwar governance arrangements in Gaza.

    Under the ceasefire terms reported over the weekend, Israel has been transferring detainees in preparation for releases while international agencies scale up humanitarian operations inside Gaza. Disagreements over specific prisoner names and categories have persisted in recent days, including last-minute changes approved by Israel’s government to the first batches.

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  • Old protest footage falsely linked to ethnic violence in Bangladesh

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    Clashes between security forces and Bangladesh’s indigenous community protesting the alleged rape of a girl left three people dead in late September. However, a video circulating in Burmese social media posts does not show soldiers shooting at demonstrators in the South Asian country’s southeastern region bordering Myanmar — the footage was in fact taken in the capital Dhaka during mass unrest that ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024.

    “Now Bangladesh army shot the public in Guimara, Chittagong, Bangladesh. The video of Bangladesh army opened fire on protesters emerges,” reads the Burmese-language caption to a video shared on Facebook on September 29.

    Guimara is an area in Bangladesh’s Khagrachari district, located in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region bordering Myanmar.

    The 30-second footage shows soldiers lying in a row on the ground with guns pointed at people in the distance, while gunshots can also be heard.

    Screenshot taken on October 6, 2025 of the false post with an X marked by AFP

    The video was repeatedly shared on Facebook by users in neighbouring Myanmar with similar claims after three people were killed during clashes between security forces and protesters in Khagrachari district (archived link).

    The unrest was triggered by the alleged rape of a schoolgirl in an area that has long been a flashpoint between Indigenous communities and Bengali-speakers, with clashes breaking out over land and resources.

    However, the video is old and unrelated to the recent violence.

    Reverse image searches and keyword searches on Google found the same clip in a report by Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera, uploaded to YouTube on July 24, 2024 (archived link). The circulating clip corresponds to the YouTube video’s 30-second mark.

    The title reads, “Bangladesh curfews, internet blackout batter economy amid quota protests”.

    <span>Screenshot comparison of the video from the false post (L) to the Al Jazeera video </span>

    Screenshot comparison of the video from the false post (L) to the Al Jazeera video

    Bangladesh’s student-led movement began in July 2024, with hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters clashing with security forces in the worst unrest of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule (archived link).

    Up to 1,400 people were killed between July and August 2024, according to the United Nations (archived link).

    Further reverse image searches found a similar photo of the row of soldiers published on British photo agency Alamy, dated July 20, 2024 with a caption that states it was taken in the capital Dhaka (archived link).

    The shops and buildings seen in both the Al Jazeera video and the photo on Alamy match Google Street View imagery of a Dhaka neighbourhood, 180 kilometres (112 miles) from Khagrachari (archived link).

    <span>Screenshot comparison of the Al Jazeera video (L) and the Google Maps' Street View imagery, with matching features highlighted by AFP </span>

    Screenshot comparison of the Al Jazeera video (L) and the Google Maps’ Street View imagery, with matching features highlighted by AFP

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  • ‘First round of hostage deal negotiations in Cairo was positive,’ sources tell Al-Jazeera

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    According to Al-Jazeera, the first round of negotiations between the mediators and the Hamas terrorist organization delegation in Sharm el-Sheikh has ended.

    The first round of negotiations between the Hamas terrorist organization and mediators over the hostage deal was “characterized by positivity,” according to sources cited by the Qatari news network Al-Jazeera.

    During this first phase, the roadmap for the current round of talks in Sharm el-Sheikh and its mechanisms was also determined.

    In addition, these sources noted that the Hamas delegation made it clear to the mediators that the continued attacks in the Gaza Strip pose a challenge to the release of the hostages.

    The report also claimed that the Hamas delegation included two members who survived the assassination attempt in Qatar: Khalil al-Hayya and Zaher Jabareen.

    Hamas calls October 7 a ‘glorious day’

    While this first negotiation round was underway, Hamas shared a statement celebrating the two-year anniversary of the October 7 Massacre by calling it a “glorious day.”

    Houses in kibbutz Nir Oz, where residents where takedn hostage and later on murdered by Hamas terrorists in the October 7 massacre, southern Israel. September 30, 2025. (credit: Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90)

    It also included a video, made mostly from artifical intelligence footage, that celebrates the attacks and calls the terrorists who pillage Israeli kibutzim “heroes,” with them being described as going in “defense of their religion and homeland.”

    It also names the terrorist leaders killed by Israel in the last two years of war, while using Artificial Intelligence to recreate Yahya Sinwar’s death footage in Gaza.

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  • Israel’s justification for Gaza hospital attack false, Reuters probe finds

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    Israel’s justification for bombing a Khan Younis hospital in southern Gaza, claiming it targeted a Hamas camera, is false, according to an investigation by the news agency Reuters.

    Israeli forces planned the August 25 attack on Nasser Hospital using drone footage that, a military official said, showed a Hamas camera that was the target of the strike. But a Reuters review of visual evidence and interviews with witnesses established that the camera in question actually belonged to the news agency and had long been used by one of its own journalists.

    The “double-tap” attack killed 22 people, including five journalists – one of whom worked for Al Jazeera. Their deaths bring the number of journalists killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza to more than 200 since the genocidal war began nearly two years ago.

    A day after the hospital strike, the army said troops had fired on a “suspicious” camera draped in cloth, claiming it was operated by Hamas. Drone footage later showed the device on a hospital stairwell, covered with a prayer rug belonging to Reuters journalist Hussam al-Masri – who was killed in the strike – not Hamas, Reuters found.

    At least 35 times since May, al-Masri had positioned his camera on the same stairwell to record live broadcasts distributed worldwide. He often used the rug to shield it from heat and dust.

    “The claim that Hamas was filming Israeli forces from Nasser Hospital is false and fabricated,” said Ismail al-Thawabta, head of Gaza’s Government Media Office. “Israel is trying to cover up a full-fledged war crime against the hospital, its patients and medical staff.”

    Reuters said it reviewed more than 100 videos and photos from the scene and interviewed more than two dozen people to reconstruct the events of the attack.

    Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem described the stairwell as “a makeshift newsroom” where journalists had gathered before the strike. Al-Masri’s live broadcast froze moments before the blast, which killed him along with several civil defence workers. A second explosion struck as rescuers rushed in.

    “We were rescuing the martyrs and wounded … then a huge explosion among us,” said Reuters cameraman Hatem Khaled.

    Israel has repeatedly targeted hospitals and other sites protected under international humanitarian law, including schools, shelters, mosques and churches. Its attacks have also killed journalists, medical staff, first responders and humanitarian workers. Despite repeated global calls for investigations, Israel continues to act with impunity while carrying out genocide in Gaza.

    The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says Israel has never published the results of a formal investigation nor held anyone accountable for the killings of journalists.

    “None of these incidents prompted a meaningful review of Israel’s rules of engagement, nor did international condemnation lead to any change in the pattern of attacks on journalists over the past two years,” said Sara Qudah, CPJ’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.

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  • Israeli bombing kills over 90 Palestinians as Gaza City faces destruction

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    At least 91 Palestinians have been killed across the Gaza Strip since dawn, where Israeli forces continue to heavily bomb Gaza City, the main urban centre in the besieged enclave.

    Medical sources across Gaza hospitals told Al Jazeera on Saturday that at least 76 Palestinians were killed in Gaza City alone, where the Israeli army has been trying to forcibly expel the entire population in recent weeks.

    In the area’s Tuffah neighbourhood, at least six people were killed in an Israeli drone attack. In western Gaza City’s Shati camp, at least five people, including two girls, were killed in an Israeli assault, an ambulance source told our Al Jazeera colleagues on the ground.

    The Israeli military estimates it has demolished up to 20 tower blocks over the past two weeks in the area.

    According to the Gaza Civil Defence, some 450,000 – or about half the urban centre’s population – have fled Gaza City since Israel in August announced its decision to capture and occupy it.

    Displaced Palestinians, fleeing northern Gaza, move southwards after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the south [Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters]

    Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from central Gaza, said Israeli forces were attacking people as they fled following Israel’s forced expulsion orders.

    “The army is using quadcopters to kill people trying to escape their neighbourhoods and using these robots with residents saying every time they explode it feels like an earthquake,” she reported.

    Meanwhile, Gaza’s ruling entity Hamas released on Saturday what it called a “farewell picture” of 48 Israeli captives held in Gaza.

    Hamas has persistently warned that intensifying Israeli attacks and a ground invasion would endanger the lives of the captives; some have already been killed by Israeli bombs.

    The armed Palestinian group also claims that captives are “scattered throughout the neighbourhoods” of besieged Gaza City.

    Situation in al-Mawasi ‘heartbreaking’

    While the Israeli army has intensified its deadly bombing and destruction of Gaza City, it said it is also continuing military operations in the south.

    At least three of the dead were aid seekers killed by Israeli forces at a distribution centre near Rafah in southern Gaza.

    Al Jazeera’s Khoudary said the al-Mawasi area in southern Gaza, touted by the Israeli army as a so-called “safe zone” and where Palestinians in the north were told to flee from, was “overcrowded”, leaving many with few alternatives.

    “We’re seeing some tents on the sides of the streets. People have literally pitched their tents in places where there’s no water, electricity or infrastructure,” she said.

    “That’s because Palestinians do not have any other option.”

    Michail Fotiadis from medical charity Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, says the situation in al-Mawasi is “heartbreaking”.

    “Everybody is looking for a place to pitch a tent, but the materials are not available. The situation is really dire for the population. Access to water is very difficult,” Fotiadis told Al Jazeera from al-Mawasi, described by Israel as a “humanitarian zone”.

    He said more Palestinians continue to arrive from northern Gaza with nothing after escaping Israel’s military onslaught.

    “Usually, in a situation like this, survival prevails. But Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have had to endure so many different displacements, so many situations of fear. They are beyond desperation.”

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  • ‘We lost everything twice’: Afghan returnees struggle after earthquake

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    Noorgal, Kunar, Afghanistan – Four months ago, Nawab Din returned to his home village of Wadir, high in the mountains of Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province, after eight years as a refugee in Pakistan.

    Today, he lives in a tent on his own farmland. His house was destroyed nearly three weeks ago by the earthquake that has shattered the lives of thousands of others in this region.

    “We are living in tent camps now,” the 55-year-old farmer said, speaking at his cousin’s shop in the nearby village of Noorgal. “Our houses were old, and none were left standing … They were all destroyed by big boulders falling from the mountain during the earthquake.”

    Din’s struggle captures the double disaster facing a huge number of Afghans. He is among more than four million people who have returned from Iran and Pakistan since September 2023, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

    The August 31 earthquake killed about 2,200 people and destroyed more than 5,000 homes, compounding a widespread economic crisis.

    Tents housing people displaced by the magnitude 6.0 earthquake that struck Afghanistan on August 31, in Diwa Gul valley in Kunar province [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]

    “We lost everything we have worked for in Pakistan, and now we lost everything here,” Din adds.

    Until four months ago, he had been living in Daska, a city in Pakistan’s Sialkot District, for eight years after fleeing his village in Afghanistan when ISIL (ISIS) fighters told him to join them or leave.

    “I refused to join ISIL and I was forced to migrate to Pakistan,” he explains.

    His exile ended abruptly this year as the Pakistani government continues its nationwide crackdown on undocumented foreign nationals.

    He describes how Pakistani police raided his house, taking him and his family to a camp to be processed for deportation. “I returned from Pakistan as we were told our time there was finished and we had to leave,” he says.

    “We had to spend two nights at Torkham border crossing until we were registered by Afghan authorities, before we could return to our village.”

    58-year-old Sadat Khan in the village of Barabat, in Afghanistan's Kunar province [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]

    Sadat Khan, 58, in the village of Barabat, in Afghanistan’s Kunar province [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera] (Al Jazeera)

    This struggle is echoed across Kunar. Some 12km from Noorgal, in the village of Barabat, 58-year-old Sadat Khan sits next to the rubble of the home he had been renting until the earthquake struck.

    Khan returned from Pakistan willingly as his health was failing and he could no longer find work to support his wife and seven children. Now, the earthquake has taken what little he had left.

    “I was poor in Pakistan as well. I was the only one working and my entire family was depending on me,” he tells Al Jazeera. “We don’t know where the next meal will come from. There is no work here. And I have problems with my lungs. I have trouble breathing if I do more effort.”

    He says his request to local authorities for a tent for his family has so far gone unanswered.

    “I went to the authorities to request a tent to install here,” he says. “We haven’t received anything, so I asked someone to give me a room for a while, for my children. My uncle had mercy on me and let me stay in one room in his house, now that the winter is coming.”

    One crisis out of many

    The earthquake is only the most visible of the crises that returnees from Iran and Pakistan are facing.

    “Our land is barren, and we have no stream or river close to the village,” says Din. “Our farming and our life depend entirely on rainfall, and we haven’t seen much of it lately. Other people wonder how can we live there with such severe water shortage.”

    Dr Farida Safi, a nutritionist working at a field hospital set up by Islamic Relief in Diwa Gul valley after the quake, says malnutrition is becoming a major problem.

    “Most of the people affected by the quake that come to us have food deficiency, mostly due to the poor diet and the lack of proper nutrition they had access to in their village,” she explains. “We have to treat many malnourished children.”

    The destroyed mud brick house that 58-year-old Sadat Khan was renting in Barabat village [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]

    The destroyed mudbrick house that 58-year-old Sadat Khan was renting in Barabat village [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]

    Kunar’s Governor, Mawlawi Qudratullah, told Al Jazeera that the Kunar authorities have started building a new town that will include 382 residential plots, according to the plan.

    This initiative in Khas Kunar district is part of the national programmes directed by the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, with an objective of providing permanent housing for Afghan returnees. However, it is unclear how long it will take to build these new homes or if farmland will also be given to returnees.

    “It will be for those people who don’t have any land or house in this province,” Qudratullah said. “And this project has already started, separate from the crisis response to the earthquake.”

    But for those living in or next to the ruins of their old homes, such promises feel distant. Back in Noorgal, Nawab Din is consumed by the immediate fear of aftershocks from the earthquake and the uncertainty of what comes next.

    “I don’t know if the government will relocate us down in the plains or if they will help us rebuild,” he says, his voice heavy with exhaustion. “But I fear we might be forced to continue to live in a camp, even as aftershocks continue to hit, sometimes so powerful that the tents shake.”

    Villages damaged by the eartquake in Nurgal valley, Afghanistan's Kunar province [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]

    Villages damaged by the earthquake in Nurgal valley, Afghanistan’s Kunar province [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]

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  • ‘Gone to waste’: Kashmir growers watch apples rot as key highway is blocked

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    Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir – A distraught Javid Ahmad Bhat fears he may lose the entire year’s earnings from the apples he grows.

    Two trucks bearing his apples worth more than $10,000 are among rows of stranded carriers that stretch for miles along a key highway connecting his city, Baramullah, in Indian-administered Kashmir to the remainder of India. Their tarpaulin covers bulge with crates of fruits that have begun to blacken and collapse under the weight of rot.

    “All our hard work for the entire year has gone to waste. What we painstakingly nurtured since the spring is lost. No one will buy these rotten apples, and they will never reach New Delhi. We are left with no choice but to throw away both truckloads along the highway,” Bhat told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.

    The Jammu–Srinagar national highway – the only all-weather road connection in the Himalayan region – has been repeatedly blocked since August 24 after rain-triggered landslides damaged a section of it. For more than a month, the region has been battered by a severe monsoon fury, killing at least 170 people and causing extensive damage to properties, roads, and other infrastructure.

    A truck driver shows rotten apples in his vehicle stranded along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, after the highway road was closed following landslide and floods, in Qazigund town, Anantnag district, Indian Kashmir, September 10, 2025 [Sharafat Ali/Reuters]

    Blockade during peak harvest season

    Horticulture forms the backbone of Indian-administered Kashmir’s economy, with the valley producing about 20–25 million metric tonnes of apples every year – roughly 78 percent of India’s total apple output, according to data Al Jazeera collected from fruit growers’ associations.

    The highway blockade coincides with the peak harvest season in Kashmir, locally called “harud”, during which apples, walnuts and rice are gathered from thousands of orchards and fields across the valley.

    “It’s not just me or my village – this crisis [road closure] is hitting all of Kashmir’s apple growers. Our entire livelihood depends on this harvest,” said Bhat, calling it a second blow to the region’s economy this year after the Pahalgam attack in April, when suspected rebels killed 28 people, severely disrupting tourism – another key sector in the valley.

    A local government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said about 4,000 trucks have been stranded on the highway at Qazigund area in southern Kashmir’s Anantnag district for two weeks, and the fruit loaded on them has begun to rot, resulting in estimated losses of nearly $146m.

    In protest, growers shut down fruit markets across Kashmir on Monday and Tuesday as they condemned the government’s inability to clear the key road.

    “If the highway stays blocked for even a few more days, our losses will skyrocket beyond imagination,” Ishfaq Ahmad, a fruit grower in Sopore town, told Al Jazeera.

    Sopore in Baramulla district, about 45km (28 miles) from Srinagar, is home to Asia’s largest fruit market. But the sprawling complex was a scene of despair on Tuesday. Fresh apple crates remained piled up in an endless wait, as each passing day reduced their value, or worse, brought them closer to rotting. Some estimates said the price of an apple box had already fallen from 600 rupees ($7) to 400 rupees ($5).

    “We have stopped bringing more apples to the market here. We are forced to leave them at the orchards because there is no space left, and the trucks that left earlier are still stranded on the highway,” said Ahmad.

    Rotten apples lie on the ground near trucks stranded along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway

    Rotten apples lie on the ground near trucks stranded along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, after the highway road was closed following landslide and floods, in Qazigund town, Anantnag district, Indian Kashmir, September 10, 2025 [Sharafat Ali/ Reuters]

    ‘Nothing is moving’

    Fayaz Ahmad Malik, president of the Kashmir fruit growers’ association, said about 10 percent of the trucks left for New Delhi on Tuesday after a 20-day standstill on the highway, but thousands remain stuck.

    “Our preliminary estimates already run into crores [millions],” he said, adding that the government failed to take prompt action when the highway closure first began, worsening the crisis.

    To address the crisis, Manoj Sinha, the region’s top official appointed by New Delhi, on September 15 launched a dedicated train from Budgam station in the central part of Indian-administered Kashmir to New Delhi to transport the fruit, claiming the move would “significantly reduce transit time, increase income opportunities for thousands of farmers, and boost the agricultural economy of the region”.

    “It’s essentially a parcel coach linked to a passenger train, not a full-fledged goods train,” a railway official told Al Jazeera, on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, adding that the train can carry about 23-24 tonnes of produce each day.

    But farmers say the measure offers only limited relief to growers in Kashmir, who produce nearly two million tonnes of apples every year.

    “It [the special train] is a positive move, but with such capacity, it will only carry roughly one truckload of apples per day, which is far less than what the growers need,” Shakeel Ahmad, an official at a fruit market in Shopian district, told Al Jazeera.

    As anger and frustration over the stalled trucks mount, the region’s Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who has limited administrative powers in a region controlled directly by New Delhi, on Tuesday said if the federal government cannot keep the highway operational, its control should be handed over to him.

    “We have been patient, waiting for daily assurances that the restoration would be completed, but nothing has been done. Enough is enough,” Abdullah said, speaking to reporters on September 15 in Srinagar, the region’s largest city.

    Meanwhile, in a post on X on September 16, Nitin Gadkari, the federal minister for road transport and highways, said more than 50 earthmovers have been deployed in a round-the-clock operation to clear and repair the Jammu-Srinagar highway.

    “We are determined to restore this vital national highway to full strength at the earliest, ensuring safety and convenience for all road users,” he wrote.

    But the minister’s assurances provide little comfort to Shabir Ahmad, a truck driver at Qazigund, who climbs into his van every morning to inspect the apple boxes.

    “We have been stranded here for 20 days, and the government has shown no urgency in restoring the road. The losses are beyond imagination,” he told Al Jazeera, adding that the authorities should have understood it was the peak harvest season and acted swiftly.

    He said the farmers who find their produce is rotten unload it silently and take the road back, looking for a place to dispose what once was their season’s hard work. “Nothing is moving, and with each passing day, our fruit is turning into waste.”

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  • Father reunited with family in Sudan after Al Jazeera news report

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    A Sudanese father who had lost contact with his wife for 18 months has been reunited with his family after recognising them in an Al Jazeera news report.

    Shamoun Idris lived with his wife, Fatma Ali, and their children in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, until the city became a battleground between Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in August 2023, a few months after the war in Sudan started.

    As the war intensified and shelling increased near their home, the couple decided that Fatma would try to escape Khartoum with their children. Shamoun would stay behind and protect the house as RSF forces advanced, looting homes and attacking civilians.

    “I decided that they should leave,” Shamoun told Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall, who reported on the initial story featuring Fatma and their children. “I stayed behind to guard the house. We thought the war would end soon and they would be able to return.”

    But soon after, and with the violence in the capital increasing, Idris was also forced to flee. In the process, both Shamoun and Fatma lost their phones and were unable to contact each other, with no knowledge of where the other was.

    The couple became two of the 7,700 Sudanese people searching for missing relatives, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

    “I kept telling the children he was somewhere, just unable to reach us, but, in fact, I was completely at a loss, and I was wondering what really happened to him. I couldn’t focus on the children or on him being missing,” said Fatma.

    Reunion

    Fatma and the children eventually reached Sennar, south of Khartoum, where they sheltered in a school.

    Meanwhile, Shamoun searched for them in vain, until he eventually saw an Al Jazeera news report from February about missing relatives.

    In the report was his wife, Fatma.

    “I said, ‘Man, this is my family!’ I said, ‘I swear, it’s my family.’ It was such a huge surprise,” Shamoun said.

    As Fatma listened to her husband tell the story of their recent reunion, she began to cry, overwhelmed with the emotion of Shamoun’s absence.

    She said her hope now is for the family to rebuild their lives. “I hope we can go back and return to our previous life. I knew my children would be OK as long as I was with them, but for their father to be gone, that was a real problem.”

    “Our children went to school and were very happy. Not one of our children was out of school; they even went to private schools, not public ones,” she said. “Now, it’s been more than two years since they saw the inside of a classroom, except as somewhere to shelter.”

    Since being reunited, Shamound has found a small plot of land in Sennar, where he has built a little shack for the family.

    It has no door to keep out rain, wind or sun, but thousands of other displaced people in Sudan do not have any shelter at all.

    For now, Shamoun and Fatma are grateful for the little privacy and freedom it provides, and for being together.

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  • Doha strike shows gov’t does not want to bring back the hostages, former PM Olmert tells Al Jazeera

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    Former prime minister Ehud Olmert told Qatari outlet Al Jazeera that the only explanation for the Doha strike on Hamas is that the Israeli government doesn’t care about the hostages.

    The only reason the attack on Hamas leaders in Doha took place is that the current government is not interested in bringing back the hostages, former prime minister Ehud Olmert claimed during an interview for Qatari outlet Al Jazeera on Saturday.

    “If someone wants to eliminate them at this moment, the only explanation for this operation is that they do not want to negotiate for the release of the hostages,” Olmert said during the interview.

    He further emphasized that “killing a negotiating team means you don’t want negotiations and don’t want the release of the hostages.”

    According to Olmert, Hamas members should be punished, but the strike in Doha “was not in the right place or at the right time.”

    Olmert added that the assassination attempt failed, and, in his view, its execution during the negotiations was “a hasty decision that led to a destructive result.”

    Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert in Tel Aviv. August 8, 2024. (credit: TOMER NEUBERG/FLASH90)

    Olmert criticizes current government’s fighting policy

    Olmert expressed that he “regrets” the death of the son of senior Hamas figure Khalil al-Hayya, who was killed in the attack, as well as the injury Hayya’s wife.

    “A child should not be a victim, and his wife was also hurt. We are fighting terrorism, and they will be punished when the time comes, but the family is a different story,” he said.

    He reiterated his opposition to the current government’s policy regarding the ongoing fighting, arguing that “the cabinet and the military gave orders to kill Palestinians indiscriminately, including those not connected to the events of October 7.”

    “This is a wrong policy,” Olmert believes, adding he intends to work with others to bring about the end of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s tenure, claiming that Netanyahu “does not represent Israel and poses a danger to the country.”

    Previous controversial statements Olmert has made to international media

    In May, Olmert told the BBC that what Israel “is currently doing in Gaza is very close to a war crime. Thousands of innocent Palestinians are being killed, as well as many Israeli soldiers.”

    He also told CNN that he can no longer defend Israel against accusations of war crimes later that month.

    Additionally, in July, he called Defense Minister Israel Katz’s “humanitarian city” plan in Gaza a “concentration camp” in an interview with The Guardian.

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  • Israel bombs more Gaza City high-rises after forced evacuation orders

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    The Israeli army has bombed another high-rise in Gaza City after telling Palestinian residents to evacuate or face being killed amid its ongoing siege and imposed mass starvation in the enclave.

    The Israeli military designated more high-rise towers as targets in a map released on Saturday. Shortly after releasing the map, it bombed the 15-storey Soussi Tower, which is located opposite a building belonging to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood.

    “These attacks are causing panic amongst the people, especially considering the time they are given to evacuate. Half an hour or an hour is not enough time for people to escape from these buildings,” Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said, reporting from Gaza City.

    The Israeli military said in a statement, without offering evidence, that the buildings struck were used by Hamas to gather intelligence to monitor the locations of the Israeli army. It also said armed Palestinian groups planted “numerous explosive devices” and dug a tunnel in the area.

    Gaza’s Government Media Office rejected the claims and called them “part of a systematic policy of deception used by the occupation to justify the targeting of civilians and infrastructure” and forcibly displace Palestinians from their homes. It said 90 percent of Gaza’s infrastructure has been destroyed by Israel.

    The targeted buildings were near the 12-storey Mushtaha Tower, which on Friday was similarly bombed and razed to the ground, as Israel moves to seize Gaza City despite international criticism.

    At least 68 Palestinians were killed and 362 wounded across the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military over the past day, the enclave’s Ministry of Health said on Saturday afternoon.

    The toll includes 23 aid seekers killed and 143 wounded by Israeli forces. At least six more Palestinians also died of Israeli-induced starvation, bringing the total number of starvation deaths during nearly two years of war to 382, including 135 children.

    At least 64,368 Palestinians have been killed and 162,367 wounded by Israel since the start of the war in the aftermath of the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

    Israel declares new ‘humanitarian zone’, bombs the area

    Sources at Nasser Hospital, located in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, told Al Jazeera that at least two Palestinians were killed and many wounded in an Israeli air strike on a tent housing displaced people in the al-Mawasi area.

    While this area was designated as a “humanitarian” or “safe” zone by the Israeli army early in the war, it has been repeatedly bombed, leading to the deaths of hundreds of displaced civilians.

    Hours before the latest bombings, the Israeli army had announced the establishment of another similar zone in al-Mawasi, which runs along Gaza’s Mediterranean coast. It claimed the area will have infrastructure such as field hospitals, water lines, desalination facilities and food supplies.

    Palestinians mourn the loss of loved ones killed by the Israeli military on September 6, 2025 [Hamza ZH Qraiqea/Anadolu]

    Reporting from central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said Palestinians do not trust the so-called humanitarian area as tents in similar zones have been attacked by Israel many times before and nowhere is safe.

    But people in Gaza City have few options: If they stay, they risk being killed, and if they leave, they face dangers on the road and may have to spend considerable money to move their belongings south.

    Those who have returned to their homes in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood, where Israeli forces withdrew recently after weeks of ground assaults, have found everything they owned destroyed.

    “What we have built in 50 years was flattened in five days,” resident Aqeel Kishko told Al Jazeera. “Nothing remains standing – buildings, roads and infrastructure. We are walking not only on ruins but also on dead bodies of our loved ones.”

    Nohaa Tafish said it would be impossible for Gaza’s largest urban centre to be revived.

    “What would people return to? There is nothing to return to,” she said.

    Ahmed Rihem also had his home in Gaza City reduced to rubble. “It is as if the entire Zeitoun neighbourhood was hit with a nuclear bomb,” he said.

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  • ‘Fields of rubble’: Israel, destroying Gaza City, kills 78 across enclave

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    Israel has stepped up its destruction of Gaza City as it plans to seize Gaza’s largest urban centre and forcibly displace around one million Palestinians to concentration zones in the south, as it killed at least 78 people across the besieged enclave since dawn, including 32 desperately seeking food.

    On Sunday, in Gaza City, the Palestinian Civil Defence reported a fire in tents near al-Quds Hospital after Israeli shelling. At least five people were killed and three wounded when a residential apartment was hit near the Remal neighbourhood.

    Ismail al-Thawabta, director of Gaza’s Government Media Office, said the Israeli army is also using “explosive robots” in residential areas and forcibly displacing Palestinians in Gaza City.

    In a statement on X on Sunday, al-Thawabta said the army has detonated more than 80 such devices in civilian neighbourhoods over the past three weeks, calling it a “scorched-earth policy” that has destroyed homes and endangered lives.

    He said more than one million Palestinians in Gaza City and the north of the enclave “refuse to submit to the policy of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing” despite the destruction and starvation caused by the Israeli assault.

    Footage posted on Instagram by Palestinian journalist Faiz Osama and verified by Al Jazeera showed the moments that followed an Israeli aerial attack on the Sabra neighbourhood, in the southern part of Gaza City.

    In the footage, as plumes of smoke rise to the sky, a child can be seen screaming with a wound to the leg. A man also lays on the ground with what appears to be a head injury.

    The video also shows the destruction left by the strike after residential buildings were flattened by the explosion.

    Israel’s forces have carried out sustained bombardment on Gaza City since early August as part of a deepening push to seize the area in the latest phase of its nearly two-year genocidal war.

    On Friday, the Israeli military said it had begun the “initial stages” of its offensive, declaring the area a “combat zone”.

    ‘Fields of rubble’

    Reporting from Gaza City on Sunday, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said intensifying Israeli attacks have been turning parts of Gaza City, once teeming and crowded with residential buildings, into “fields of rubble”.

    “There is non-stop heavy artillery targeting the Zeitoun area and Jabalia, where we are seeing the systematic demolition of homes. There is hardly any fighting going on, but heavy artillery and bulldozers are moving from one street to the other, destroying all of these residential clusters,” he said.

    “The majority of people in those areas do not have the luxury to pack up and leave because there is no safety anywhere.”

    Another Palestinian journalist was also killed on Sunday. A source at al-Shifa Hospital told Al Jazeera that Islam Abed was killed in an Israeli attack on Gaza City and that she worked for Al-Quds Al-Youm TV channel.

    The Government Media Office said the “number of martyred journalists has risen to 247″ since the war began. Other tallies have put the number of journalists and media workers killed at more than 270.

    On Monday, five journalists – one of whom worked for Al Jazeera – were among at least 21 people killed in an Israeli attack on Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis.

    ‘Life is difficult, so we will stay in our home’

    Many residents in Gaza City are opting to stay put despite Israel declaring it a “combat zone”.

    It was Gaza’s most populous city before the war began, home to about 700,000 people. Then hundreds of thousands fled under Israel’s forced evacuation threats before many returned, joined by thousands of other displaced from the south, during a January-to-March ceasefire, which Israel broke.

    Fedaa Hamad, who was displaced from Beit Hanoon, said she has “no plans to leave” Gaza City this time despite Israel’s latest warning.

    “We are tired from the first displacement. Where are we going to go? Is there a place in the south? We cannot find it,” she said.

    Akram Mzini, a resident of Gaza City, said he would not leave “because displacement is very difficult”.

    “We were displaced to the south before, and displacement in the south is not simple and it is costly,” he said. “Life is difficult, so we will stay in our home, and whatever God wants will happen.”

    Elsewhere in Gaza on Sunday, an Israeli attack on the centre of Deir el-Balah killed at least four people, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

    Earlier, medical sources said an Israeli bombardment killed at least one person and wounded several in the city, located in the central part of the Gaza Strip.

    Israeli forces have killed at least 78 Palestinians across Gaza since dawn, including 32 aid seekers, according to medical sources.

    Since the war began, Israel has killed at least 63,459 people and wounded 160,256. A total of 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks, and about 200 were taken captive.

    On Sunday, Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir held a situation assessment meeting with his top commanders, saying the military must “initiate” more attacks to surprise and reach its targets anywhere.

    Many more reserve soldiers will assemble this week “in preparation for the continued intensification of the fighting against Hamas in Gaza City”, Zamir was quoted as saying by the military.

    Meanwhile, the armed wing of Hamas said its fighters successfully attacked two invading Israeli military vehicles in Gaza City on Saturday.

    The Qassam Brigades said a Merkava tank of the Israeli army was hit with a Yassin-105 shell, while a D9 military bulldozer was targeted with an explosive device on a street southwest of the Zeitoun neighbourhood of the besieged area.

    As global condemnation against the situation grows, in the largest attempt to break the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory by sea, the Global Sumud Flotilla left the Spanish port city of Barcelona on Sunday.

    The flotilla’s launch comes after the United Nations-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) declared a state of famine in Gaza this month.

    The Global Sumud Flotilla, which describes itself as an independent group not linked to any government or political party, did not say how many ships would set sail or the exact time of departure, but Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg spoke of “dozens” of vessels.

    Sumud means “perseverance” in Arabic.

    Two previous attempts by activists to deliver aid by ship to Gaza were blocked by Israel.

    Mohamad Elmasry of the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies told Al Jazeera that while the flotilla was “an important act of symbolic resistance … ultimately, they will be intercepted”.

    “This is not going to solve the famine,” he said. “What’s going to solve the famine, ultimately, is governments doing their job to stop genocide and deliberate starvation programmes.”

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  • Israeli strikes on Gaza hospital kill 20 people, including 5 journalists

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    BEIRUT — Two Israeli strikes on a hospital in southern Gaza on Monday killed at least 20 people, including five journalists, four healthcare workers and a civil defense worker, according to Palestinian health authorities, the World Health Organization and video taken from the hospital.

    Coming two weeks after Israeli strikes killed six journalists in the enclave, the attacks add to a tally that has seen Gaza become the deadliest conflict ever recorded for media workers and healthcare personnel, advocacy groups say.

    The strikes targeted the top floor of the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, with the first attack coming some time after 10 a.m. Roughly 10 minutes later, as a live broadcast from a local news channel zoomed in on civil defense workers sifting through the wreckage with journalists filming nearby, the second missile hit.

    “The civil defense is gone! They [Israel] killed the people!” shouts a journalist from Al-Ghad TV as the scene is engulfed in smoke and rubble.

    Other video taken inside the medical complex depicts a dust-covered man dragging himself on the floor away from the blast, while a bloodied cameraman is escorted to a nursing station. Hadil Abu Zaid, a British doctor with the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians visiting the intensive care unit, in a statement described the scene as “unbearable,” with “trails of blood” across the floor.

    The Gaza Health Ministry condemned the attacks, characterizing them as “a continuation of the systematic destruction of the health system and the continuation of genocide.”

    In a statement on X, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 50 other people were injured in the attacks, including “critically ill patients who were already receiving care.” He said the hospital’s main building, which houses the emergency department, inpatient ward and surgical unit, was struck.

    “While people in #Gaza are being starved, their already limited access to healthcare is being further crippled by repeated attacks,” he wrote. “We cannot say it loudly enough: STOP attacks on health care. Ceasefire now!”

    Activists in Gaza said journalists often congregated on the upper floor of the hospital and the emergency staircase outside so as to get a phone signal. Five journalists were killed in the attack, Gaza health authorities and the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said.

    The latter identified the slain media workers as Mariam Abu Dagga, a visual journalist who freelanced for the Associated Press; Hussam al-Masri, a contractor cameraman with Reuters; Moaz Abu Taha, a freelancer who also worked on occasion with Reuters; Ahmed Abu Aziz, who reported for Middle East Eye; and Al Jazeera cameraman Mohammad Salama.

    Another contract photographer with Reuters, Hatem Khaled, was also injured, the news agency said.

    The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate denounced the journalists’ killing, saying in a statement that “without a doubt [Israel] is waging war on free media.”

    The Israeli military confirmed in a statement that it carried out the strike and that it “regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and does not target journalists as such,” and that it would conduct an “initial inquiry.”

    Later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement describing the attack as a “tragic mishap.”

    “The military authorities are conducting a thorough investigation,” he said.

    “Our war is with Hamas terrorists.”

    Rights groups accused Israel of conducting a so-called double-tap strike, where a second strike follows several minutes after the first. During that pause, rescue workers and medical personnel will assemble. A July investigation by the Israeli news outlets +972 Magazine and Local Call found that double-tap strikes had been adopted by the Israeli military as standard procedure when operating in Gaza.

    Monday’s strikes come amid growing international criticism of Israel’s campaign in Gaza, which over the last 22 months has led to the deaths of hundreds of healthcare personnel and media workers, and carried out routine attacks on healthcare facilities and infrastructure.

    Israel insists that Hamas militants are hiding inside or near healthcare facilities, or that the group’s cadres disguise themselves as medical personnel, civil defense crews and journalists. It has rarely provided evidence proving those accusations.

    In June, a group of civil society organizations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Doctors Without Borders and others said more than 1,500 health workers and 460 aid workers have been killed since Oct. 7, 2023, after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and kidnapping about 250 others, most of them civilians. Health authorities in Gaza put the Palestinian death toll at nearly 63,000, the majority of them civilians.

    Israel has barred international journalists from entering Gaza, except on tightly controlled tours with its military. Meanwhile, it routinely vilifies local reporters as Hamas apologists or operatives. The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a tally published before Monday’s attacks that at least 192 journalists have been killed in Gaza since the war began. Health authorities in Gaza put the toll at 244.

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    Nabih Bulos

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  • Israeli strike on Gaza’s Nasser Hospital kills 15, including 4 journalists, health officials say

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    Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip — An Israeli airstrike hit the fourth floor of southern Gaza’s main hospital Monday, killing at least eight people including several journalists, hospital officials told CBS News. An Official with the civil defense rescue agency in Hamas-run Gaza said later that at least 15 people were killed in the strike in total.

    Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told journalists at the scene that “the death toll is 15, including four journalists and one civil defense member,” according to the French news agency AFP.   

    The victims were killed in a double-tap strike on the hospital, with one missile hitting first, then another moments later as rescue crews arrived, the health ministry said.

    Khan Younis’ Nasser Hospital, the largest in southern Gaza, has withstood raids and bombardment throughout 22 months of war, with officials citing critical shortages of supplies and staff.

    Injured Palestinians are carried out of the Nasser Hospital by local residents and rescuers following an Israeli attack on the facility in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, Aug. 25, 2025.

    Abdallah F.S. Alattar/Anadolu/Getty


    Israel’s military did not immediately respond to questions about the strike or the reports that journalists were among the victims. Israel has come under mounting pressure over the number of journalists being killed in its military operations in Gaza — including in targeted strikes against individuals whom Israeli officials claim were Hamas operatives.

    A hospital official told CBS News that four journalists were killed in the Monday morning double-tap strike at Nasser Hospital. The official identified the four as Husam Al Masri, who worked for the Reuters news agency, Mohammad Salameh, who worked for Al Jazeera, and freelance journalists Maryam Abu Daqa and Mouth Abu Taha.

    The Associated Press’ news director for the Middle East, Jon Gambrell, said in a social media post that Abu Aaqa had “freelanced for the AP since the Gaza war began.”

    maryam-abu-daqa-gaza-journalist-killed.jpg

    Freelance Palestinian journalist Maryam Abu Daqa, who worked for The Associated Press throughout the war in Gaza until she was killed in an Israeli strike at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Aug. 25, 2025, is seen in an undated file photo.

    At least one other journalist was wounded in the strike, the hospital official said, identifying the man as Haithem Omar, who also works for Reuters.

    Reuters confirmed that al-Masri, a contractor working for the international news agency, was among those killed. It said photographer Hatem Khaled, who also worked as a contractor for the agency, was wounded.

    Israeli strikes and raids on hospitals are not uncommon. Multiple hospitals have been struck or raided across the Gaza Strip, with Israel claiming its attacks had targeted militants operating inside the medical facilities, without providing evidence.

    On August 11, Israel’s military targeted and killed five Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza, including correspondent Anas al-Sharif. The Israel Defense Forces said it had intelligence and documents from Gaza to prove al-Sharif was the head of a Hamas terrorist cell, and the IDF shared undated photos of Al-Sharif with Yahya Sinwar, the top Hamas leader in Gaza, who was killed last October.

    CBS News could not verify the authenticity of the photos. Al Jazeera and al-Sharif had previously dismissed Israel’s claims as baseless, The Associated Press reported. Just three weeks ago, al-Sharif had appealed to the Committee to Protect Journalists over fears he might be assassinated.

    Al-Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif

    This screen grab taken from AFPTV on August 11, 2025 shows Al-Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif speaking during an AFP interview in Gaza City on August 1, 2024.

    AFP/AFPTV/AFP via Getty Images


    A June strike on Nasser Hospital killed three people and wounded 10, according to the health ministry. At the time, Israel’s military said it had targeted Hamas militants operating from a command and control center inside the hospital.

    The Hamas-run health ministry said Sunday that at least 62,686 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its war in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack that killed some 1,200 Israelis and saw 251 others taken as hostages.

    The ministry does not distinguish in its figures between fighters and civilians, but it says around half of those killed have been women and children. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable information available on war casualties, as such figures are difficult to independently verify as Israel does not permit foreign journalists into Gaza.

    Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.

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  • Prominent Al Jazeera journalist among several killed in Israeli strike on Gaza press tent

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    AMMAN, Jordan — Israel’s military targeted a tent for journalists in Gaza City late Sunday, killing seven people, including Anas al-Sharif, a reporter for Al Jazeera who drew millions of followers on social media and emerged as a top voice in the Arab world for his chronicling of the war in Gaza over the last 22 months.

    Killed alongside the 28-year-old Al-Sharif were Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Moamen Aliwa and their assistant Mohammed Noufal. A sixth journalist, freelancer Mohammad al-Khaldi, who was in a nearby tent, was also killed, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

    In a statement, Al Jazeera, which is funded by the government of Qatar and has long had a fraught relationship with the Israeli government, described the killings as a “targeted assassination” that was “yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom.”

    “The order to assassinate Anas al-Sharif, one of Gaza’s bravest journalists, and his colleagues, is a desperate attempt to silence the voices exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza,” the statement said, referring to the Israeli government’s recently approved plans for its military to take over the Palestinian enclave.

    “Al Jazeera emphasizes that immunity for perpetrators and the lack of accountability embolden Israel’s actions and encourage further oppression against witnesses to the truth,” the broadcaster’s statement said.

    Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani also excoriated Israel, saying in a statement on X that “the deliberate targeting of journalists by Israel in the Gaza Strip reveals how these crimes are beyond imagination.”

    Israel’s military confirmed it conducted the attack, issuing a statement shortly before midnight Monday saying it struck “the terrorist Anas Al-Sharif” who it said “posed as a journalist” but “served as the head of a terrorist cell” in the militant group Hamas.

    It claimed that “previously disclosed intelligence information” and “many documents found in the Gaza Strip” confirmed Al-Sharif’s involvement with Hamas. The documents, which the statement said included personnel rosters, lists of terrorist training courses, among others, “provide proof of the integration of the Hamas terrorist” within Al Jazeera.

    The documents were first released in October 2024 and accused six Al Jazeera journalists of involvement with Hamas or the Islamic Jihad militant group.

    At the time, Al Jazeera, along with a United Nations expert, the Committee to Protect Journalists and other groups cast doubt on the veracity of the documents. The U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of expression, Irene Khan, denounced Israel’s accusations against Al-Sharif in July as “unfounded” and a “blatant attempt to endanger his life and silence his reporting on the genocide in Gaza.”

    The Israeli military has previously made unsubstantiated claims that journalists it targeted and killed in Gaza were terrorists. In March, Israel killed Al Jazeera correspondent Hossam Shabat; in July 2024, it killed Ismail Ghoul and his cameraman Rami al-Rifi.

    Chief correspondent Wael al Dahdouh lost his wife, son, daughter and grandson in an Israeli airstrike in October 2023. Weeks after that, he was injured in a strike that killed Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa.

    Israel has barred international journalists from entering Gaza even as it has targeted local reporters. Health authorities in Gaza say 237 journalists have been killed since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023. The Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 186 have been killed.

    Sunday’s drone attack came weeks after Israel stepped up its attacks on Al-Sharif, with the military’s Arabic-language spokesman accusing the Al Jazeera correspondent in July of spreading “propaganda” and taking part in “a false Hamas campaign on starvation.”

    Later that month, the Committee to Protect Journalists said it was “gravely worried” about Al-Sharif’s safety. The group’s Middle East and North Africa director, Sara Qudah, warned that the smear campaign against Al-Sharif represented “an effort to manufacture consent to kill Al-Sharif.”

    In a statement on Monday, Qudah said, “Israel is murdering the messengers.”

    “If Israel can kill the most prominent Gazan journalist, then it can kill anyone. The world needs to see these deadly attacks on journalists inside Gaza, as well as its censorship of journalists in Israel and the West Bank, for what they are: a deliberate and systematic attempt to cover up Israel’s actions.”

    British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “gravely concerned” over the repeated targeting of journalists in Gaza; Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders and other groups also issued condemnations. The U.S. government did not immediately provide comment.

    Al-Sharif’s killing drew tributes for a journalist who for many across the region came to embody Gaza’s suffering.

    On social media people shared poignant moments from his coverage, including when he covered his father’s killing in an Israeli airstrike in the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza City in December 2023; a video when he was reunited with his daughter this year; or when he almost broke down on air, his voice cracking.

    “Keep on going, Mr. Anas,” says an unseen passerby. “You are our voice.”

    Video posted to social media showed crowds massing at the Sheikh Radwan Cemetery for the journalists’ funeral. Video depicted mourners crying and embracing each other, while others in the crowd carried Al-Sharif’s shrouded corpse and chanted, “With our soul and blood, we will sacrifice ourselves for you, Anas.”

    Al-Sharif is survived by his wife, daughter and son.

    Minutes before the strike that killed him, Al-Sharif posted on X saying there was “intense, concentrated Israeli bombardment” of Gaza City for two hours.

    Al-Sharif’s final message, written in April to be posted in the event of his death, read: “If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.”

    He continued: “I have lived through pain in all its details, tasted suffering and loss many times, yet I never once hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification — so that Allah may bear witness against those who stayed silent, those who accepted our killing, those who choked our breath, and whose hearts were unmoved by the scattered remains of our children and women, doing nothing to stop the massacre that our people have faced for more than a year and a half.”

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    Nabih Bulos

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  • Israel Accuses Al Jazeera Of Being Mouthpiece For Journalism

    Israel Accuses Al Jazeera Of Being Mouthpiece For Journalism

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    JERUSALEM—Following its ban of the Qatar-based news outlet’s operations in the country, Israel accused Al Jazeera Monday of being a mouthpiece for journalism. “It is clear from its continuous, 24-hour coverage of the war in Gaza that Al Jazeera is working on behalf of journalistic principles,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a blistering statement, accusing the broadcaster of harboring hundreds of journalists who engage in tactics such as gathering information, validating that information to its ensure accuracy, and then presenting it to the public. “What else are we to call their relentless on-the-ground reporting and their fact-based firsthand accounts of what’s going on in Gaza? It is journalism, plain and simple. Some of these fanatics at Al Jazeera have even sacrificed their lives for the cause, dying as they carry out acts of journalism that threaten the Israeli government.” Netanyahu went on to defend his administration’s record of rooting out journalism, noting that since the war began in October, around 100 journalists had been killed.

    This Week’s Most Viral News: April 5, 2024

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