On Wednesday, an X account belonging to Anas al-Sharif, a Palestinian journalist with more than half a million followers, announced a new mission: to be “the voice of Gaza resisting extermination, injustice, and betrayal … to keep the coverage ongoing.”
Four days earlier, Israel’s military had targeted and killed al-Sharif, an Al Jazeera correspondent, in a drone strike. Five other reporters also died in the strike, pushing the death toll among Palestinian journalists since the start of the U.S.-backed Israeli offensive in Gaza above 180. Their deaths have spurred global condemnation and driven concern about Israel limiting what the world knows about Gaza — where it is preparing to expand its campaign and where it has not allowed international journalists to report freely throughout the nearly two-year war — and fresh calls to prevent a total media blackout.
Al-Sharif “lived and died for Palestine, standing firm against the onslaught of rockets with resolve and dedication to the unwavering truth and to reporting his people’s struggles and suffering,” reads the X message. It suggests his accounts, potentially including his Instagram profile with nearly 2 million followers, are now being run by people to whom he entrusted them to ensure his community’s experiences continue to be documented.
