Al-Sharif is latest Al Jazeera reporter to lose close relatives in an Israeli strike.

Al Jazeera has condemned the Israeli strike on the home of its journalist, Anas Al-Sharif, in northern Gaza on Monday which killed his father, 65-year-old Jamal, nearly two weeks after receiving threats from the occupation forces.

“The Network expresses its deepest condolences to our colleague Anas and his family. Al Jazeera urges the international community and humanitarian organisations to urgently intervene and halt the Israeli occupation forces’ brutal targeting of both journalists and civilians in the Gaza Strip,” the broadcaster said in a statement.

In an emotional post on X, Al-Sharif said he has not seen his parents for 60 days.

“I was missing them and my longing for them increased. I was unable to meet them except to bid farewell to my dearly beloved father. I saw my father as a martyr and embraced my mother consoling her and myself,” Al-Sharif said.

Al-Sharif is widely labelled by activists and his fellow journalists as the “eyes and ears” of Palestinians in the north of Gaza after Israel forced Palestinians to flee to the south in November.

The reporter’s family had evacuated to UNRWA-run schools, but his father was unable to flee the area due to health reasons, according to Al Jazeera.

The Al Jazeera journalist had received threats from the Israeli occupation forces on November 22, demanding he immediately cease reporting from the north of Gaza. Al-Sharif vowed to continue his coverage despite the threats.

In his post on Monday, Al-Sharif said his father was killed in revenge for his journalistic work.

“Today the enemy is taking revenge by targeting my family home, so that my beloved father may rise as a martyr. My father remained patient and sought reward in our camp, the camp of resilience, Jabalia, and we only say to God we belong and to Him we shall return,” he said.

“We are here to remain, and coverage will continue from the heart of the Jabalia camp,” he added.

Israel has targeted journalists and their families in Gaza since the beginning of the genocide on October 7.

Data gathered by the Committee to Protect Journalists found that 63 journalists in Palestine, Israel, and Lebanon have been killed as of Monday. Out of the total figure of press casualties, 56 are Palestinian, three are Lebanese, and four are Israeli.

Al-Jazeera’s staff have been on the receiving end of threats and attacks for the network’s round the clock coverage of the atrocities on the ground. Notably, Al-Sharif is the fourth Al Jazeera member to lose relatives in an Israeli strike.

On October 25, Israel killed four family members of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh in southern Gaza. Dahdouh’s wife, 15-year-old son, seven-year-old daughter and infant grandson were killed by the Israeli strike.

Israel had announced the south to be a safe zone before the attack. Dahdouh found out about the killing of his family members while he was reporting on live television.

On October 31, Israel killed 19 family members of Al Jazeera Arabic’s broadcast engineer, Mohamed Abu Al-Qumsan, during a massacre at the Jabalia camp. 

The Israeli attack killed Al-Qumsan’s father, two sisters, eight nephews and nieces, his brother, his brother’s wife and their four children, his sister-in-law, and one uncle. 

Israel then killed 22 family members of Al Jazeera Arabic’s correspondent, Moamen Al Sharafi, on December 6 in an attack on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

Al Jazeera English correspondent, Youmna ElSayed, had also received a threatening phone call on October 30 from someone “claiming to be from Israeli forces” to leave their home, a move that the network had condemned.

Before the war on Gaza, Israel killed prominent Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on May 11, 2022 as she was covering an Israeli raid in Jenin. The occupation forces also attacked pallbearers in Palestine as they were carrying Abu Akleh’s coffin.

To date, Israel has not been held accountable for its crime, despite numerous investigations that had found the Israeli occupation forces to be the sole perpetrators of the killing. Some of those investigations included ones by the United Nations, Amnesty International, and CNN.

On October 18, Israeli attorney general reportedly approved a ban on Al Jazeera’s local bureau before it backtracked on its decision the following month over Qatar’s key role in mediating the release of captives from Hamas in Gaza.

Since October 7, Israel has killed more than 18,200 Palestinians in Gaza, 70% of which are women and children, according to the latest figures by Palestine’s health ministry.

Euro-Med reported a much higher figure on Monday of 24,142, including 9,420 children and those who are presumed dead under the rubble.