JERUSALEM – Israel’s military targeted and killed an Al Jazeera correspondent and others with an airstrike late Sunday in Gaza , after press advocates said an Israeli “smear campaign” stepped up when Anas al-Sharif cried on air over starvation in the territory .

Both Israel and hospital officials in Gaza City confirmed the deaths of al-Sharif and colleagues, which the Committee to Protect Journalists and others described as retribution against those documenting the war in Gaza . Israel’s military asserted that al-Sharif had led a Hamas cell – an allegation that Al Jazeera and al-Sharif previously dismissed as baseless.

It was the first time during the 22-month war that Israel’s military swiftly claimed responsibility after a journalist was killed in a strike. Observers have called

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