Increasing the danger: Journalist killing in Gaza sends a chilling message

Israel's targeted killing of an Al Jazeera correspondent in Gaza over the weekend was noteworthy even for a conflict remarkably blood-soaked for journalists, leaving some experts to marvel that any news at all emerges from the territory.

An Al Jazeera executive said Monday that it won't back down from covering what is going on there and called for news organizations to step up and recruit more journalists. A total of 184 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed by Israel in the Gaza war since its start in October 2023, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. That compares to the 18 journalists and media workers killed so far in the Russia-Ukraine war, CPJ said.

Aside from rare guided tours, Israel has barred international media from covering the 22-month war in Gaza. News organizations instead rely largely on Palestinian Gaza residents and ingenuity to show the world what is happening there. Israel often questions the affiliations and biases of Palestinian journalists but doesn't permit others in.

“You simply are in awe when stories show up,” said Jane Ferguson, a veteran war correspondent and founder of Noosphere, an independent platform for journalists. She can't recall a conflict that has been more difficult for reporters to cover, and she's reported from South Sudan, Syria and Afghanistan.

Correspondent Anas al-Sharif knew he was a target, and left behind a message to be delivered upon his death. He and seven other people — six of them journalists — were killed in an air strike outside of Gaza City’s largest hospital complex on Sunday. Israel swiftly claimed responsibility, saying without producing evidence that al-Sharif had led a Hamas cell. It was a claim the news organization and al-Sharif had denied.

Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press, BBC News and Reuters are among the organizations regularly reporting from Gaza. An Aug. 7 AP dispatch vividly described the hunger faced by many in Gaza: “A single bowl of eggplant stewed in watery tomato juice must sustain Sally Muzhed's family of six for the day. She calls it moussaka, but it's a pale echo of the fragrant, lawyered, meat-and-vegetable dish that once filled Gaza's kitchens with its aroma.”

Other recent AP reports carried images and text reporting from the aftermath of an Israeli strike on Gaza's only Catholic church, and a profile of an 18-year-old aspiring doctor now trying to survive sheltered in a tent.

Journalists from The Washington Post and the Guardian recently accompanied a Jordanian relief mission and took images of Gaza from the air, despite some restrictions from Israel. The Guardian's Lorenzo Tondo wrote: “Seen from the air, Gaza looks like the ruins of an ancient civilization, brought to light after centuries of darkness.”

None of the organizations match the power and immediacy of Al Jazeera, however, in part because their correspondents have been in front of cameras. They've also paid the heaviest price: CPJ estimates that 11 journalists and media workers affiliated with AJ have been killed in the Gaza conflict, more than any other single organization.

In a social media post written in June to be sent if he was killed, al-Sharif wrote that “I have lived through pain in all its details, tasted suffering and loss many times, yet I never once hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification — so that Allah may bear witness against those who stayed silent.”

In another posting on X on Aug. 10, the day that he was killed, al-Sharif wrote of the challenges covering the aftermath of one attack. He said he lost his strength and ability to express himself when he arrived at the scene.

“Body parts and blood were all around us, and corpses were scattered on top of each other,” he wrote. “Tell me what words and phrases could help any journalist describe this horrific image. When I told you on air that it was an ‘indescribable scene,' I was truly helpless in the face of this horrific sight.”

Salah Negm, news director at Al Jazeera English, said Monday it is very difficult to get people in to Gaza. But it is full of educated people and those with training in journalism who can help get stories out. He called on other news organizations to step up.

“We get the news from several sources on the ground in Gaza — not only journalists but also doctors, hospitals, civil servants, aid workers,” Negm said. “A lot of people in Gaza talk to us.”

Many of the journalists working in Gaza are facing the same struggles to find food, for themselves and their families, as the people they are covering. Noosphere's Ferguson said she's never before had to ask a reporter whether she had enough food for herself and her child.

In an interview in May on “Democracy Now!,” 22-year-old journalist Abubaker Abed described the difficult decision he made to leave Gaza to pursue his education in Ireland. Not only was he suffering from malnutrition, he said, but his mother was concerned that his work as a journalist would make him and his family targets.

“If I stayed, I would die,” he said.

Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said she's concerned about the implications for journalists in future conflicts if what is happening in Gaza is allowed to continue without international condemnation that has real teeth.

“They're essentially admitting in public to what amounts to a war crime,” Ginsberg said, “and they can do that because none of the other attacks on journalists have had any consequences. not in this war and not prior. It's not surprising that it can act with this level of impunity because no international government has really taken it to task.”

Given all that they face, “to me, the most remarkable thing is that journalists are continuing to cover (Gaza) at all,” she said.

Laurie Kellman and Danica Kirk in London, Samy Magdy in Cairo and Sam Metz in Jerusalem contributed to this report. David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.

CORRECTS SURNAME TO QREIQEH, INSTEAD OF QUREIQA - Palestinians carry the bodies of journalists, including Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohamed Qreiqeh, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, during their funeral outside Gaza City's Shifa hospital complex, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

A woman carries a poster showing Palestinian journalists Anas al-Sharif, left, and Mohamed Qreiqeh that Israel's military targeted and killed with an airstrike late Sunday in Gaza, during a protest in the West Bank city of Ramallah Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Palestinians pray over the bodies of journalists, including Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohamed Qreiqeh, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, during their funeral outside Gaza City's Shifa hospital complex, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians carry the body of Al Jazeera journalist Mohamed Qreiqeh, one of five Al Jazeera staff members killed in a targeted Israeli drone strike, during his funeral outside Gaza City's Shifa Hospital complex on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

PARIS (AP) — France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen returned to court Tuesday to appeal an embezzlement conviction, with her 2027 presidential ambitions hanging on the outcome of the case.

Le Pen, 57, is seeking to overturn a March ruling that found her guilty of misusing European Parliament funds. She was given a five-year ban from holding elected office, two years of house arrest with an electronic bracelet, a further two-year suspended sentence and a 100,000-euro ($116,800) fine.

“I hope I'll be able to convince the judges of my innocence,” Le Pen told reporters Monday. “It’s a new court with new judges. The case will be reset, so to speak.”

The appeals trial is scheduled to last for five weeks, with a verdict expected at a later date.

She was seen as the potential front-runner to succeed President Emmanuel Macron in the 2027 election until last year's ruling, which sent shock waves through French politics. Le Pen denounced it as “a democratic scandal.”

Her National Rally party has been coming out on top in opinion polls, and Le Pen alleged that the judicial system brought out “the nuclear bomb” to prevent her from becoming France’s president.

The appeal trial, involving Le Pen and 11 other defendants, is scheduled to last for five weeks. A panel of three judges at the appeals court in Paris is expected to announce its verdict at a later date, possibly before summer.

Several scenarios are possible, from acquittal to another conviction that may or may not bar her from running in 2027. She could also face an even tougher punishment if convicted anew — up to 10 years in prison and a 1-million euro ($1.17 million) fine.

In March, Le Pen and other party officials were convicted of using money intended for EU parliamentary assistants who instead had other duties between 2004 and 2016, in violation of EU rules. Some actually did work for the party, known as the National Front at the time, in French domestic politics, the court said.

In handing down the sentence, the judge said Le Pen was at the heart of a “system” set up to siphon off EU parliament funds — including to pay for her bodyguard and her chief of staff.

All suspects denied wrongdoing, and Le Pen argued the money was used in a legitimate way. The judge said Le Pen and the others did not enrich themselves personally.

The legal proceedings initially stemmed from a 2015 alert raised by Martin Schulz, then-president of the European Parliament, to French authorities.

The case and its fallout weigh heavily on Le Pen’s political future after more than a decade spent trying to bring the far right into France’s political mainstream. Since taking over the party from her late father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, in 2011, she has sought to shed its reputation for racism and antisemitism, changing its name, expelling her father in 2015 and softening both the party’s platform and her own public image.

That strategy has paid dividends. The National Rally is now the largest single political group in France’s lower house of parliament and has built a broad network of elected officials across the country.

Le Pen stepped down as party president in 2021 to focus on the presidential race, handing the role to Jordan Bardella, now 30.

If she is ultimately prevented from running in 2027, Bardella is widely expected to be her successor. His popularity has surged, particularly among younger voters, though some within the party have questioned his leadership.

Le Pen's potential conviction would be “deeply worrying for (France's) democracy,” Bardella said Monday in a New Year address.

Far-right party National Rally president Jordan Bardella speaks during his New Year address to the press, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen arrives at National Rally president Jordan Bardella's New Year address to the press, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, center, is framed by Louis Aliot, left, and conservative lawmaker Eric Ciotti during National Rally president Jordan Bardella's New Year address to the press, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)