Anas Al-Sharif and his entire team were killed by an Israeli bombing on Sunday, August 10, 2025. Anas was the main correspondent of Al-Jazeera in Gaza. His colleagues Mohammed Qreiqaa, Ibrahim Dhahir, Moamen Aaliwa, Mohammed Noufal, and Mohammed Al-Khaldi also died when the Israeli army bombed the tent they were working in. The main Western media repeats the version of the Israeli army: “Anas was an Hamas-activist“. As if this justifies the killing of the entire Al Jazeera team. Israel forbids foreign journalists to enter the Gaza Strip and at the same time has killed so far more than 200 journalists. Result: the Israeli version of the facts is dominating the news in Western countries.
A genocide is going on now. This controversial term for Israel is now widely accepted, even in official circles. People are dying from hunger and are gunned down while trying to get a bag of flour. Photo and video footage of these horror scenes is available on a daily basis, but the immunity of Israel has apparently no limits. Their military spokespersons and political responsibles are invited on TV platforms all the time.
“I SAW BODY PARTS FLYING IN THE AIR”
From time to time, however, voices directly from Gaza are heard. Here is one testimony collected by Rami Abou Jamous, founder of GazaPress, and a commentator for the OrientXXI website journey. Rami collected the testimony of a 16-year-old boy, Youssef, who miraculously escaped a summary execution. The father of Youssef was a chicken farmer in Gaza. He and his family had a good life, but everything they possessed has been destroyed by the Israeli army. They spent all the money they had and they are surviving now with humanitarian aid coming into Gaza in dribs and drabs. On July 22, Youssef did what all youngsters in Gaza are doing: looking for aid coming with trucks.
Youssef: “When I saw people coming back with bags of flour, I knew I had arrived too late. But they told me that other trucks were arriving from a side street. Dozens of us ran there, but instead of food trucks, we bumped into an Israeli tank. We hid in a side building. The tank moved forwards towards another building where people were also hiding. It started shooting at them. A second tank arrived, also shooting at the people hiding in the building. A third tank arrived and stopped just in front of the building where we were hiding. They saw us and the cannon of the tank moved slowly towards us. Three soldiers pointed at us with a M-16 rifle. One soldier shouted to us in Arabic to come out of the building in our underwear. We obeyed and walked towards the tank. At that moment the heavy machine gun of the tank started shooting at the four persons that were just in front of me. I saw them being cut into pieces by the bullets. I saw body parts flying in the air, blood everywhere. It was horrible, I was terrified. I was in a group of six or seven persons. I was the youngest and the smallest. I tried to hide behind them. I didn’t know what else to do. The soldier who had ordered us to come out of the building also started shooting at the group with his M-16. All the guys in front of me fell down. I felt a violent shock in my chest and I fell on the ground. I was aware that I had to pretend to be dead because the soldier wanted to kill everybody. I felt blood coming out of my mouth and my chest. The three tanks encircled the other building and continued shooting from time to time. After two hours they left. Two guys who were still hiding in the building took me on their shoulders and I ended up in the hospital. The doctor told me that they did not have the material to lift the bullet from my chest, as it was too close to my heart.”
Youssef is in bed, totally traumatized. If the bullet moves, provoking a new bleeding, he will die.
HUNDREDS OF BODIES IN DECOMPOSITION: A CEASEFIRE URGENTLY NEEDED
Summary executions take place every day. Youssef says that hundreds of bodies are decomposing in the streets, in the areas where people had to leave without being authorized to return. According to testimonies, the Israeli soldiers dig mass graves to bury the executed persons. Most of them are not fighters. Many of them just wanted to get a bag of food to prevent their family from dying from hunger.
In these circumstances, the debate about the recognition of a Palestinian state, or the discussion about the two- or one-state solution, is rather sterile. French president Macron is going to recognize a Palestinian state in September, but under what conditions, and where? If a recognition of a Palestinian state is not accompanied by concrete measures, it’s not only worthless, it’s counterproductive. To stop the current horror, to stop the genocide and the famine, a durable ceasefire is needed and the opening of a humanitarian corridor to bring food. To achieve this, sanctions should be taken to increase the pressure on the Israeli state.
