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Al Jazeera says 5 journalists killed in Israeli strike in Gaza

Al Jazeera said two of its correspondents, including a prominent reporter, and three cameramen were killed in an Israeli strike on their tent in Gaza City on Sunday.The Israeli military admitted in a statement to targeting Anas al-Sharif, the reporter it labelled as a “terrorist” affiliated with Hamas.The attack was the latest to see journalists targeted in the 22-month war in Gaza, with around 200 media workers killed over the course of the conflict, according to media watchdogs.”Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif has been killed alongside four colleagues in a targeted Israeli attack on a tent housing journalists in Gaza City,” the Qatar-based broadcaster said.”Al-Sharif, 28, was killed on Sunday after a tent for journalists outside the main gate of the hospital was hit. The well-known Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent reportedly extensively from northern Gaza.”The channel said that five of its staff members were killed during the strike on a tent in Gaza City, listing the others as Mohammed Qreiqeh along with camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa.The Israeli military confirmed that it had carried out the attack, saying it had struck Al Jazeera’s al-Sharif and calling him a “terrorist” who “posed as a journalist”. “A short while ago, in Gaza City, the IDF struck the terrorist Anas Al-Sharif, who posed as a journalist for the Al Jazeera network,” it said on Telegram, using an acronym for the military. “Anas Al-Sharif served as the head of a terrorist cell in the Hamas terrorist organisation and was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops,” it added. Al-Sharif was one of the channel’s most recognisable faces working on the ground in Gaza, providing daily reports in regular coverage.Following a press conference by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, where the premier defended approving a new offensive in Gaza, al-Sharif posted messages on X describing “intense, concentrated Israeli bombardment” on Gaza City.One of his final messages included a short video showing nearby Israeli strikes hitting Gaza City.In July, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement calling for his protection as it accused the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee of stepping up online attacks on the reporter by alleging that he was a Hamas terrorist. Following the attack, the CPJ said it was “appalled” to learn of the journalists’ deaths.”Israel’s pattern of labelling journalists as militants without providing credible evidence raises serious questions about its intent and respect for press freedom,” said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah. “Journalists are civilians and must never be targeted. Those responsible for these killings must be held accountable.”The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate condemned what it described as a “bloody crime” of assassination.Israel and Al Jazeera have had a contentious relationship for years, with Israeli authorities banning the channel in the country and raiding its offices following the latest war in Gaza.Qatar, which partly funds Al Jazeera, has hosted an office for the Hamas political leadership for years and been a frequent venue for indirect talks between Israel and the militant group. – Sealed off -With Gaza sealed off, many media groups around the world, including AFP, depend on photo, video and text coverage of the conflict provided by Palestinian reporters.Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in early July that more than 200 journalists had been killed in Gaza since the war began, including several Al Jazeera journalists.International criticism is growing over the plight of the more than two million Palestinian civilians in Gaza, with UN agencies and rights groups warning that a famine is unfolding in the territory. The targeted strike comes as Israel announced plans to expand its military operations on the ground in Gaza, with Netanyahu saying on Sunday that the new offensive was set to target the remaining Hamas strongholds there. He also announced a plan to allow more foreign journalists to report inside Gaza with the military, as he laid out his vision for victory in the territory.A UN official warned the Security Council that Israel’s plans to control Gaza City risked “another calamity” with far-reaching consequences.”If these plans are implemented, they will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza, reverberating across the region and causing further forced displacement, killings, and destruction,” UN Assistant Secretary General Miroslav Jenca told the Security Council.

With poetry and chants, Omanis strive to preserve ancient language

Against the backdrop of southern Oman’s lush mountains, men in traditional attire chant ancient poems in an ancient language, fighting to keep alive a spoken tradition used by just two percent of the population.Sitting under a tent, poet Khalid Ahmed al-Kathiri recites the verses, while men clad in robes and headdresses echo back his words in the vast expanse.”Jibbali poetry is a means for us to preserve the language and teach it to the new generation,” Kathiri, 41, told AFP.The overwhelming majority of Omanis speak Arabic, but in the mountainous coastal region of Dhofar bordering Yemen, people speak Jibbali, also known as Shehri.Researcher Ali Almashani described it as an “endangered language” spoken by no more than 120,000 people in a country of over five million.- ‘Protected by isolation’ -While AFP was interviewing the poet, a heated debate broke out among the men over whether the language should be called Jibbali — meaning “of the mountains” — or Shehri, and whether it was an Arabic dialect.Almashani said it was a fully-fledged language with its own syntax and grammar, historically used for composing poetry and proverbs and recounting legends.The language predates Arabic, and has origins in Semitic south Arabian languages, he said.He combined both names in his research to find a middle ground.”It’s a very old language, deeply rooted in history,” Almashani said, adding that it was “protected by the isolation of Dhofar”.”The mountains protected it from the west, the Empty Quarter from the north, and the Indian Ocean from the south. This isolation built an ancient barrier around it,” he said.But remoteness is no guarantee for survival.Other languages originating from Dhofar like Bathari are nearly extinct, “spoken only by three or four people,” he said.Some fear Jibbali could meet the same fate.Thirty-five-year-old Saeed Shamas, a social media advocate for Dhofari heritage, said it was vital for him to raise his children in a Jibbali-speaking environment to help keep the language alive.Children in Dhofar grow up speaking the mother-tongue of their ancestors, singing along to folk songs and memorising ancient poems.”If everyone around you speaks Jibbali, from your father, to your grandfather, and mother, then this is the dialect or language you will speak,” he said.- Not yet documented -The ancient recited poetry and chants also preserve archaic vocabulary no longer in use, Shamas told AFP.Arabic is taught at school and understood by most, but the majority of parents speak their native language with their children, he said.After the poetry recital, a group of young children nearby told AFP they “prefer speaking Jibbali over Arabic”.But for Almashani, the spectre of extinction still looms over a language that is not taught in school or properly documented yet.There have been recent efforts towards studying Jibbali, with Oman’s Vision 2040 economic plan prioritising heritage preservation.Almashani and a team of people looking to preserve their language are hoping for support from Dhofar University for their work on a dictionary with about 125,000 words translated into Arabic and English.The project will also include a digital version with a pronunciation feature for unique sounds that can be difficult to convey in writing.