The scene today after an Israeli strike yesterday that killed several Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza City. It has aggravated tensions between Israel and Qatar, which funds the television network and is also a central mediator in talks to end the war in Gaza. Photo / Saher Alghorra, The New York Times
The scene today after an Israeli strike yesterday that killed several Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza City. It has aggravated tensions between Israel and Qatar, which funds the television network and is also a central mediator in talks to end the war in Gaza. Photo / Saher Alghorra, The New York Times
An Israeli airstrike that deliberately killed several Al Jazeera journalists has aggravated tensions between Israel and Qatar, which funds the television network and is a central mediator in talks to end the war in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli attack yesterday, near a hospital in Gaza City, killed five AlJazeera journalists, the network reported: correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh; photographers Ibrahim Zaher and Moamen Aliwa; and an assistant, Mohammed Noufal.
The network had previously said four of its people died in the attack. Gaza officials said that in addition to the journalists, two others were killed.
The Israeli military had accused al-Sharif of being a Hamas fighter — an allegation that he and the network had rejected — and pointedly identified Al Jazeera as “Qatari”. The government of Qatar responded with a strong condemnation.
“The deliberate targeting of journalists by Israel in the Gaza Strip reveals how these crimes are beyond imagination,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the Prime Minister of Qatar, said today, in criticising the international community’s inability “to stop this tragedy”.
The attack underlined Israel’s complex relationship with Qatar, which Israeli leadership relies on as a back channel to Hamas, while simultaneously regarding the country with suspicion.
The rulers of Qatar — a Gulf peninsula with fewer than 400,000 citizens — have used its fossil fuel wealth to achieve global prominence. Qatar is home to a United States military base, a major international airline, one of the world’s largest sports broadcasters, and the Al Jazeera news network.
It has also served as a mediator between Hamas and governments, including those of Israel and the US, that do not deal directly with the Palestinian armed group.
Qatar hosts the political office of Hamas, which led the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, setting off the current war, and has contributed significant financial aid to Gaza over the years, with the knowledge and support of the Israeli Government.
The funeral today in Gaza City for several Al Jazeera journalists killed in an Israeli strike yesterday. Photo / Saher Alghorra, The New York Times
Israel “criticises Qatar, and on the other hand, quietly co-operates with Qatar on all kinds of things,” said Yoel Guzansky, a senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel.
“When Israelis bash Qatar, I remind them first look at what you did and then go and blame the Qataris.”
Qatar has been a major mediator in failed talks to end the war in Gaza.
At the same time, the country has increasingly become a punching bag for right-wing Israeli politicians and commentators who paint it as an insidious enemy.
Last week, Yair Netanyahu, an Israeli podcaster and son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accused Qatar of funding a rise in anti-Semitism globally.
“Every Jew around the world is in grave danger because of the decades-long vilification of Jews and the Jewish state by Qatar,” he said, without elaborating.
Yaacov Bardugo, a far-right commentator considered close to the Israeli Prime Minister, has called for killing “all the senior Hamas figures” in Qatar.
“I don’t think we should be afraid of harming Qatar physically,” Bardugo said last week on an Israeli radio station.
Peace talks have been possible because Qatari and Israeli officials “have been able to compartmentalise, to some extent”, said Kristian Ulrichsen, a fellow for the Middle East at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
“But with each provocation it maybe becomes harder — especially as the mediation continues to show no sign of being able to address the continuing devastation of Gaza.”
Israel has long had an antagonistic relationship with Al Jazeera that has worsened during the war.
Customers watch an Al Jazeera news broadcast at a cafe in Ramallah, in the West Bank, in January. Israel has long had an antagonistic relationship with Al Jazeera. Photo / Laura Boushnak, The New York Times
Last year, it forced the network to shut down its operations in the West Bank.
While other major media outlets have been blocked from entering Gaza, Al Jazeera has had numerous journalists there.
They have provided a steady stream of stories and images of the harrowing conditions for civilians with Israel’s bombardment and aid restrictions that have created widespread hunger and desperation.
The Israeli military had targeted other Al Jazeera correspondents before al-Sharif, claiming they were members of Hamas’ military wing — accusations that the network and its journalists denied.
Last summer, it killed Ismail al-Ghoul in an airstrike that also took the life of another reporter. In March, an Israeli strike killed another Al Jazeera journalist, Hussam Shabat.
The strike on al-Sharif came after Israel’s security Cabinet on Friday voted to intensify its military operations in the area and to take over Gaza City.
Al Jazeera called the strike “a desperate attempt to silence the voices exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza”.
Mourners buried the journalists today.
The United Nations human rights office condemned the killing as a grave breach of international law, adding that at least 242 Palestinian journalists had been killed in Gaza since the war began.
Despite the rising tensions, Qatar is expected to continue mediating Israel-Hamas talks.
Guzansky said that being a mediator serves Qatar’s interests by highlighting the tiny country’s importance to international allies, chief among them the US.
