Investigating claim slain Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif was affiliated with Hamas

• On Aug. 10, 2025, five Al Jazeera staff members, including 28-year-old journalist Anas al-Sharif, were killed in what the news network called a “targeted Israeli attack on a tent housing journalists in Gaza City.”

• The Israel Defense Forces and other people online alleged al-Sharif was affiliated with the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The IDF called al-Sharif a “Hamas terrorist” who “posed as an Al Jazeera journalist.” The IDF didn’t provide conclusive evidence to support its claim about al-Sharif and didn’t respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

• Al Jazeera condemned the accusations of terrorist affiliations leveled against al-Sharif and other journalists, calling them “fabricated.” Also, al-Sharif had identified himself as a “journalist with no political affiliations.”

• As of this writing, Snopes was unable to find sufficient evidence to definitively confirm or refute the claim that al-Sharif was affiliated with Hamas.

On Aug. 10, 2025, five Al Jazeera staff members, including 28-year-old Anas al-Sharif, were killed in what the news network called a “targeted Israeli attack on a tent housing journalists in Gaza City.”

In a statement shared on X (archived), Israel’s military called al-Sharif a “Hamas terrorist” and said he “posed as an Al Jazeera journalist”:

Other people on X also circulated the claim that al-Sharif was affiliated with Hamas, the militant group that governs the Gaza Strip.

For example, on Aug. 11, one X user wrote (archived), “Palestinian sources confirmed that the ‘Al Jazeera journalist’ Anas Al-Sharif was a Hamas agent.” Another X user said (archived), “They say Anas Al-Sharif was a journalist. Here he is with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. He was a terrorist. Don’t let them fool you.”

Multiple Snopes readers searched our website to check whether the claim that al-Sharif was affiliated with Hamas was true. 

We were unable to find sufficient evidence to definitively confirm or refute the claim. Therefore, we’ve left it unrated. Snopes contacted the IDF for further comment, including a request for evidence supporting its claim that al-Sharif was affiliated with Hamas, and did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Earlier, in October 2024, the IDF alleged (archived) that six Al Jazeera journalists, including al-Sharif, were “Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists.” Al Jazeera condemned (archived) the accusations, calling them “fabricated.”

Less than a month before his death, al-Sharif posted on X (archived) that a spokesperson for the Israeli military had “launched a campaign of threats and incitement against me because of my work as a journalist with Al Jazeera.” He also identified himself as “a journalist with no political affiliations.”

The nonprofit Committee to Protect Journalists and an expert with the United Nations also said Israel has accused other journalists of being terrorists without providing evidence, and that such accusations have sometimes preceded targeted killings.

Below is a summary of what we currently know about the allegations leveled at al-Sharif:

IDF claims lack definitive evidence

In a post (archived) shared on Oct. 23, 2024, the IDF alleged that six Al Jazeera journalists, including al-Sharif, were “exposed as Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists.” The IDF claimed it had “disclosed intelligence information and numerous documents found in Gaza confirming military affiliation” with Hamas and other “terrorist organizations.” These alleged documents included “personnel tables, lists of terrorist training courses, phone directories and salary documents for terrorists,” the IDF said.

The IDF added that the alleged documents served as “proof of the integration of Hamas terrorists within the Qatari Al Jazeera media network.”

However, the IDF did not clarify how it obtained the documents, nor did it provide independent verification or further evidence of the journalists’ alleged affiliations. The IDF also did not release any supporting materials publicly alongside the claim.

In its August 2025 statement (archived) about al-Sharif, the IDF reasserted its claim, writing that he was the “head of a Hamas terrorist cell and advanced rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and IDF troops.” The IDF again cited “intelligence and documents from Gaza,” including rosters, terrorist training lists and salary records,” saying they “prove” al-Sharif  “was a Hamas operative integrated into Al Jazeera.”

The IDF post included purported images showing al-Sharif’s name on a supposed list of Hamas operatives, as well as an alleged injury tracking document and a phone directory. However, it remains unclear how the IDF obtained the alleged documents and the military did not provide further proof of their authenticity.

Snopes contacted the IDF for further comment and did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Al Jazeera said IDF claims are ‘baseless’

Al Jazeera Media Network previously condemned (archived) the IDF’s October 2024 accusations against its journalists, calling them “baseless claims.” 

In a statement released on Oct. 23, 2024, Al Jazeera said, in part, that it saw the “fabricated accusations” against its staff members “as a blatant attempt to silence the few remaining journalists in the region, thereby obscuring the harsh realities of the war from audiences worldwide.”

The statement began as follows:

Al Jazeera Media Network vehemently condemns the recent unfounded allegations made by Israeli occupation forces against its journalists operating in northern Gaza. The Network views these fabricated accusations as a blatant attempt to silence the few remaining journalists in the region, thereby obscuring the harsh realities of the war from audiences worldwide.

These baseless claims follow Al Jazeera’s recent exposé of potential war crimes committed by Israeli forces during the ongoing war on Gaza. These journalists have been steadfastly reporting from northern Gaza, with Al Jazeera being the sole international media presence documenting the unfolding humanitarian crisis resulting from Israel’s siege and bombardment of civilian populations.

Al Jazeera categorically rejects the Israeli occupation forces’ portrayal of our journalists as terrorists and denounces their use of fabricated evidence. The Network asserts that its journalists are merely fulfilling their professional duties, documenting and reporting on the devastating impact of the war on the Strip’s two million civilians.

In a report on the August 2025 killings (archived), Al Jazeera quoted Muhammed Shehada, an analyst at the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, as saying there was “zero evidence” al-Sharif took part in any hostilities.

“His entire daily routine was standing in front of a camera from morning to evening,” Shehada told Al Jazeera.

The BBC reported (archived) on Aug. 11, 2025, that it “understands Sharif did some work with a Hamas media team in Gaza before the current conflict,” but did not provide additional context. Snopes reached out to the BBC reporter who wrote the story for more information and will update this story if we receive a response.

Al Jazeera and Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor had not responded to Snopes’ requests for further comment by the time of publication.

CPJ previously called for al-Sharif’s protection

The nonprofit Committee to Protect Journalists called for (archived) al-Sharif’s protection less than one month before his death. 

“The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely worried about the safety of Al Jazeera Arabic’s Gaza correspondent Anas al-Sharif, who is being targeted by an Israeli military smear campaign, which he believes is a precursor to his assassination,” the nonprofit wrote in a statement on July 24, 2025. 

The CPJ specifically cited IDF Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee‘s “online attacks on al-Sharif” that it said falsely alleged he was a Hamas terrorist. In one post (archived) shared on July 23, 2025, Adraee alleged al-Sharif was part of “Hamas’s military machine.”

Al-Sharif told the CPJ:

Adraee’s campaign is not only a media threat or an image destruction; it is a real-life threat. All of this is happening because my coverage of the crimes of the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip harms them and damages their image in the world. They accuse me of being a terrorist because the occupation wants to assassinate me morally.

Al-Sharif added that his family was “in danger.” In December 2023, an Israeli airstrike killed his 90-year-old father weeks after al-Sharif had received “multiple telephone threats from Israeli army officers instructing him to cease coverage and leave northern Gaza,” the CPJ reported.

In an X post (archived) on July 23, 2025, al-Sharif called attention to the “campaign of threats and incitement” against him and described himself as a “journalist with no political affiliations.” He wrote:

Important – Please share and tag all press freedom and human rights organizations

Once again, the Israeli army spokesperson has launched a campaign of threats and incitement against me because of my work as a journalist with Al Jazeera. 

I reaffirm: I, Anas Al-Sharif, am a journalist with no political affiliations. My only mission is to report the truth from the ground — as it is, without bias. 

At a time when a deadly famine is ravaging Gaza, speaking the truth has become, in the eyes of the occupation, a threat.

Pattern of Israel identifying journalists as terrorists?

According to the CPJ and a United Nations expert, Israel has repeatedly accused Palestinian journalists of being terrorists or supporters of Hamas without evidence to back its claims. In some cases, those accusations have preceded targeted killings, the CPJ and UN expert said.

“Israel has a long-standing documented pattern of accusing journalists of being terrorists without providing any credible proof,” the CPJ said in a statement (archived) on Aug. 10, 2025. 

This alleged pattern of accusing journalists of being terrorists without credible evidence began before the start of the ongoing war in Gaza, CPJ program director Carlos Martínez de la Serna said in August 2024 (archived). A 2023 CPJ report “detailed examples of five unsubstantiated claims of terrorism or militant activity against journalists killed by Israeli forces between 2004 and 2018,” the nonprofit said.

In the August 2024 statement, the CPJ included multiple examples of journalists killed by Israeli forces who were labeled “members or suspected members of militant organizations.”

For example, on July 31, 2024, an Israeli air attack killed Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Ismail al-Ghoul and his cameraman Rami al-Rifi, Al Jazeera reported (archived).

According to the CPJ, the IDF alleged that al-Ghoul was an “engineer in the Hamas Gaza Brigade and a member of Hamas’s Nukhba special forces who had taken part in the deadly Hamas October 7 raid that started the Israel-Gaza war.”

The IDF published a document that it said was a record of Hamas’ military activity from 2021 discovered on a computer as proof of its accusations, the CPJ reported.

Al Jazeera rebutted the accusations leveled at al-Ghoul in a statement (archived) on Aug. 1, 2024. The network wrote, in part:

The Network condemns the accusations against its correspondent, Ismail Al Ghoul, without providing any proof, documentation or video, and highlights Israel’s long history of fabrications and false evidence used to cover up its heinous crimes, while also denying journalists from around the world access to the Gaza Strip to report on the deteriorating humanitarian conditions and the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.

In a July 2025 news release (archived), Irene Khan, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression, also expressed concerns about the Israeli military accusing al-Sharif and other Palestinian journalists of being terrorists or Hamas supporters “without any evidence to back its claims.”

Khan said, in part:

I am deeply alarmed by repeated threats and accusations of the Israeli army against Anas Al-Sharif, the last surviving journalist of Al Jazeera in northern Gaza.

Fears for Al-Sharif’s safety are well-founded as there is growing evidence that journalists in Gaza have been targeted and killed by the Israeli army on the basis of unsubstantiated claims that they were Hamas terrorists.

Since the start of the ongoing war in Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, 192 journalists have been killed, according to the CPJ. The nonprofit added that “at least 184 of those journalists were Palestinians killed by Israel.”

The most recent attack on Aug. 10, 2025, raised the number of Al Jazeera journalists killed by Israel during the war to 11, in addition to eight freelance journalists affiliated with the outlet, according to CPJ data. 

Sources:

“Al Jazeera Condemns Israeli Accusations towards Its Journalists in Gaza and Warns against Being a Justification for Targeting Them | al Jazeera Media Network.” Al Jazeera Media Network, 23 Oct. 2024, network.aljazeera.net/en/press-releases/al-jazeera-condemns-israeli-accusations-towards-its-journalists-gaza-and-warns. Accessed 11 Aug. 2025.

Al Jazeera Staff. “Anas Al-Sharif among Five al Jazeera Staff Killed by Israel in Gaza.” Al Jazeera, 10 Aug. 2025, www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/10/al-jazeera-journalist-anas-al-sharif-killed-in-israeli-attack-in-gaza-city. Accessed 11 Aug. 2025.

Comerford, Ruth. “UN Condemns Targeted Israeli Attack That Killed Five al Jazeera Journalists.” BBC, 11 Aug. 2025, www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq688qz3rlro. Accessed 11 Aug. 2025.

CPJ Staff. “CPJ Calls for Anas Al-Sharif’s Protection in Face of Israeli Smears – Committee to Protect Journalists.” Committee to Protect Journalists, 24 July 2025, cpj.org/2025/07/cpj-calls-for-anas-al-sharifs-protection-in-face-of-israeli-smears/. Accessed 11 Aug. 2025.

“Israel Kills al Jazeera Journalists in Targeted Gaza City Airstrike – Committee to Protect Journalists.” Committee to Protect Journalists, 10 Aug. 2025, cpj.org/2025/08/israel-kills-al-jazeera-journalists-in-targeted-gaza-city-airstrike/. Accessed 11 Aug. 2025.

“CPJ Denounces Israel’s Smearing of Killed Palestinian Journalists with Unsubstantiated ‘Terrorist’ Labels – Committee to Protect Journalists.” Committee to Protect Journalists, 14 Aug. 2024, cpj.org/2024/08/cpj-denounces-israels-smearing-of-killed-palestinian-journalists-with-unsubstantiated-terrorist-labels/. Accessed 11 Aug. 2025.

CPJ. “Deadly Pattern: 20 Journalists Died by Israeli Military Fire in 22 Years. No One Has Been Held Accountable.” Committee to Protect Journalists, 9 May 2023, cpj.org/reports/2023/05/deadly-pattern-20-journalists-died-by-israeli-military-fire-in-22-years-no-one-has-been-held-accountable/. Accessed 11 Aug. 2025.

“Al Jazeera Journalist, Cameraman Killed in Israeli Attack on Gaza.” Al Jazeera, 31 July 2024, www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/31/al-jazeera-journalist-cameraman-killed-in-gaza-attack. Accessed 11 Aug. 2025.

“Al Jazeera Refutes Fabricated Israeli Accusations against Its Journalist Ismail al Ghoul | al Jazeera Media Network.” Al Jazeera Media Network, 1 Aug. 2024, network.aljazeera.net/en/press-releases/al-jazeera-refutes-fabricated-israeli-accusations-against-its-journalist-ismail-al. Accessed 11 Aug. 2025.

“Gaza: UN Expert Denounces Serious Threats by Israeli Army against al Jazeera Correspondent.” OHCHR, 31 July 2025, www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/07/gaza-un-expert-denounces-serious-threats-israeli-army-against-al-jazeera. Accessed 11 Aug. 2025.