Mourners gather for funeral of journalists killed in Israeli strikes
Gazans gathered on Monday for the funeral of five Al Jazeera staff members and a sixth reporter killed in an Israeli strike, AFP reports.
Dozens stood amid bombed-out buildings in the courtyard of Al-Shifa hospital to pay their respects to Anas al-Sharif, a prominent Al Jazeera correspondent aged 28, and four of his colleagues, killed on Sunday.
A sixth journalist, Mohammed al-Khaldi who worked as a freelance reporter, was also killed in the strike that targeted the Al Jazeera team, according to the director of Al-Shifa Hospital, Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya.
Their bodies, wrapped in white shrouds with their faces exposed, were carried through narrow alleys to their graves by mourners including men wearing blue journalists’ flak jackets.
Israel confirmed it had targeted al-Sharif, whom it labelled a “terrorist” affiliated with Hamas, saying he “posed as a journalist”.
The four other staff members killed were Mohammed Qreiqeh, also a correspondent, and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa.
Key events
Italy’s defence minister said in an interview that Israel’s government had “lost its reason and humanity” over Gaza and signalled an openness to potential sanctions, AFP reports.
“What is happening is unacceptable. We are not facing a military operation with collateral damage, but the pure denial of the law and the founding values of our civilisation,” defence minister Guido Crosetto told Italian newspaper La Stampa.
“We are committed to humanitarian aid, but we must now find a way to force Netanyahu to think clearly, beyond condemnation.”
Asked about possible international sanctions against Israel, Crosetto said that “the occupation of Gaza and some serious acts in the West Bank mark a qualitative leap, in the face of which decisions must be made that force (Benjamin) Netanyahu to think”.
“And it wouldn’t be a move against Israel, but a way to save that people from a government which has lost reason and humanity.
“We must always distinguish governments from states and peoples, as well as from the religions they profess. This applies for Netanyahu, and it applies to (Russian president Vladimir) Putin, whose methods, by now, have become dangerously similar.”
Gaza’s health ministry said five more people had died of malnutrition and starvation in Gaza in the past 24 hours, Reuters reports.
That raised the number of deaths from such causes to 222, including 101 children, since the war began, the ministry said.
Israel says it has scaled up the entry of aid and commercial goods into Gaza in past weeks. Palestinian and UN officials say the aid is a fraction of what Gaza needs.
Some further quotes from Downing Street, which said it was “gravely concerned” by both the killing of al-Sharif and his colleagues, and the wider targeting of journalists in Gaza by Israeli forces.
“We are gravely concerned by the repeated targeting of journalists in Gaza,” Keir Starmer’s official spokesperson said. “Reporters covering conflicts are afforded protection under international humanitarian law, and journalists must be able to report independently without fear, and Israel must ensure journalists can carry out their work safely.”
Asked what action Starmer might take in response, the spokesperson said: “It is wrong to target journalists who should be able to report independently, without fear, and Israel must ensure journalists can carry out their work safely. As you have seen from what the prime minister has said in recent days, he is also clear that Israel’s decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong as well.”
We have some more quotes from Emmanuel Macron on Israel’s plans for Gaza.
“This war must end now with a permanent ceasefire,” Macron said in a statement, adding Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City was “a disaster of unprecedented gravity and a headlong rush into permanent war”.
“Israeli hostages and the people of Gaza will continue to be the primary victims of this strategy,” Macron said.
Israel has said its military would “take control” of Gaza City in a plan approved by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet that sparked a wave of global criticism.
In the statement, Macron said it was important to establish a UN-mandated stabilisation mission to secure the Gaza Strip.
“The security council must now work to establish this mission and give it a mandate,” he said. “I have asked my teams to work on this without delay with our partners.”
Starmer ‘gravely concerned’ over targeting of journalists in Gaza
Keir Starmer has said he is “gravely concerned” about the repeated targeting of journalists in Gaza, the British prime minister’s spokesperson said on Monday, after the killing of Anas al-Sharif and four colleagues by the IDF.
Macron calls Israel’s Gaza plans a ‘disaster waiting to happen’
Emmanuel Macron has condemned Israel’s plans to step up its military operation in Gaza as a “disaster waiting to happen” and proposed an international coalition under a United Nations mandate to stabilise Gaza.
His foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, had already strongly criticised the plans announced on Friday by Benjamin Netanyahu, saying in a statement:
France strongly condemns the Israeli government’s plan aimed at preparing for the complete occupation of Gaza. Such an operation would worsen an already catastrophic situation without enabling the release of Hamas hostages, its disarmament, or its surrender.
Jerusalem’s Western Wall vandalised with graffiti
The Western Wall in Jerusalem has been vandalised with graffiti condemning Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, triggering widespread condemnation from religious leaders and politicians, AFP reports.
“There is a holocaust in Gaza,” was graffitied in Hebrew on the southern portion of the wall, the holiest site where Jews are allowed to pray.
A similar message was also scrawled on the wall of the Great Synagogue, elsewhere in the city.
Israeli police said a 27-year-old suspect had been arrested and would appear in court later on Monday, with the police requesting that his detention be extended.
The incident sparked immediate outrage in Israel, with the Western Wall’s Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch calling it a “desecration”.
National security minister Itamar Ben Gvir – who oversees the country’s law enforcement agencies – said he was shocked and vowed that the police would act “with lightning speed”.
Sharp condemnation also came from the opposition. Former defence minister Benny Gantz, now an opposition leader, called it “a crime against the entire Jewish people”.
The Western Wall lies in the heart of the Old City of Jerusalem, which Israeli forces captured during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Journalists in Dublin will hold a vigil this evening to “expresss outrage at Israel’s ongoing targeting and killing of journalists”, the National Union of Journalists have said.
The protest has been prompted by the killing of six journalists in Gaza by Israel.
Qatar’s prime minister and minister for foreign affairs, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani condemned Israel’s killing of six Palestinian journalists, five of whom were working for Al Jazeera, which is headquartered in Qatar and part state-funded.
“The deliberate targeting of journalists by Israel in the Gaza Strip reveals how these crimes are beyond imagination, amid the inability of the int’l community & its laws to stop this tragedy. May God have mercy on journalists Anas Al-Sharif, Mohammed Qraiqea, & their colleagues,” he said in a post on X.
Mourners gather for funeral of journalists killed in Israeli strikes
Gazans gathered on Monday for the funeral of five Al Jazeera staff members and a sixth reporter killed in an Israeli strike, AFP reports.
Dozens stood amid bombed-out buildings in the courtyard of Al-Shifa hospital to pay their respects to Anas al-Sharif, a prominent Al Jazeera correspondent aged 28, and four of his colleagues, killed on Sunday.
A sixth journalist, Mohammed al-Khaldi who worked as a freelance reporter, was also killed in the strike that targeted the Al Jazeera team, according to the director of Al-Shifa Hospital, Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya.
Their bodies, wrapped in white shrouds with their faces exposed, were carried through narrow alleys to their graves by mourners including men wearing blue journalists’ flak jackets.
Israel confirmed it had targeted al-Sharif, whom it labelled a “terrorist” affiliated with Hamas, saying he “posed as a journalist”.
The four other staff members killed were Mohammed Qreiqeh, also a correspondent, and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa.
UN human rights office condemns killing of Palestinian journalists by Israel
In a statement on X, the UN’s human rights office said: “We condemn the killing by Israeli military of 6 Palestinian journalists by targeting their tent, in grave breach of international humanitarian law. #Israel must respect & protect all civilians, including journalists.
At least 242 Palestinian journalists were killed in Gaza since 7 Oct 2023. We call for immediate, safe & unhindered access to Gaza for all journalists.”
Israel said it targeted Anas al-Sharif, one of the journalists killed, because he was a member of Hamas. Multiple organisations, including the UN and Reporters Without Borders, have questioned the veracity of that claim.
Gaza City residents report heaviest bombardment in weeks as journalists killed
Palestinians reported the heaviest bombardments in weeks on Monday in areas east of Gaza City, just hours after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he expected to complete a new expanded offensive in the territory “fairly quickly”, Reuters reports.
Witnesses said Israeli tanks and planes pounded Sabra, Zeitoun, and Shejaia, three eastern suburbs of Gaza City in the north of the territory, pushing many families out of their homes westwards.
Some Gaza City residents said it was one of the worst nights in weeks, raising fears of military preparations for a deeper offensive into their city, which is now sheltering about 1 million people after the displacement of residents from the enclave’s northern edges, according to Hamas.
The Israeli military said its forces fired artillery at Hamas militants in the area. There was no sign on the ground of forces moving deeper into Gaza City as part of the newly approved Israeli offensive.
Netanyahu on Sunday said he had instructed the Israeli military to speed up its plans for the new offensive. “I want to end the war as quickly as possible, and that is why I have instructed the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) to shorten the schedule for seizing control of Gaza City,” he said.
The plans to step-up the offensive have been criticised by a number of countries.
Greta Thunberg said she and a Palestinian activist group plan to sail a new flotilla loaded with humanitarian aid to Gaza to break the “illegal Israeli siege”, AFP reports.
Two other attempts by activists to deliver aid by ship to Gaza, in June and July, were blocked by Israel. Troops boarded their vessels and detained the activists before expelling them.
“On August 31st we are launching the biggest attempt ever to break the illegal Israeli siege over Gaza with dozens of boats sailing from Spain,” the Swedish campaigner said in a post on Instagram late on Sunday.
“We will meet dozens more on September 4th sailing from Tunisia and other ports,” she said.
Israel’s plan to take over Gaza City is “a matter of grave concern,” China’s permanent representative to the UN Fu Cong, said at a weekend meeting on the Palestinian-Israeli issue held by the UN Security Council, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reports.
Urging Israel to “stop this dangerous move at once,” Fu said: “Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people. It is an integral part of the Palestinian territory. Any action that seeks to alter its demographic and territorial structure must be met with utmost rejection and resistance.”
