Mohammed Al-Sharafi, a 25-year-old Palestinian journalist who freelanced as a photographer and editor for Hamas-owned Al-Aqsa TV, was killed along with his brothers, Moaz and Diaa, in an Israeli strike on Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on December 18, 2024, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes, his father, Freed Al-Sharafi, and a colleague, who both spoke to CPJ. Neighbors found their bodies two days later, those sources said.
“During the ongoing military operation in the northern Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation forced us to leave our home in Jabalia camp to Gaza City. But my sons Mohammed, Moaz, and Diaa could not follow us, so they were trapped inside the camp,” Freed Al-Sharafi told CPJ.
“Some neighbors and friends told us that on Friday they found the bodies of Mohammed, Diaa, and Moaz in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Beit Lahia project in Jabalia camp, but what we learned is that they were martyred on Wednesday,” he said.
Al-Aqsa TV correspondent Ahmed Abu Al-Eish told CPJ that Mohammed Al-Sharafi had been working with him as a freelance photographer and editor for the channel since June.
Abu Al-Eish added: "I was displaced with a number of journalists from Jabalia camp to Gaza City, and Mohammed could not leave with us, so he stayed in the camp until he was martyred there with his two brothers."
CPJ’s email to the Israel Defense Forces’ North America Media Desk asking whether the military knew there was a journalist in the area it attacked and whether Al-Sharafi was targeted for his work did not immediately receive a response.