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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.

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.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his plan to take control of Gaza City and target the remaining Hamas strongholds, saying Sunday it was “the best way to end the war”, despite growing calls to stop the fighting.More than 22 months into the war, sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel, the country is gripped by a yawning divide pitting those demanding an end to the conflict and a deal for the release of the hostages against others who want to see the Palestinian militants vanquished once and for all. Criticism has only intensified after Netanyahu’s security cabinet announced plans to expand the conflict and capture Gaza City.Netanyahu was defiant on Sunday, telling journalists: “This is the best way to end the war, and the best way to end it speedily.”During a press conference in Jerusalem, he said the new operation would be implemented on “a fairly short timetable”.The operation will aim “to dismantle the two remaining Hamas strongholds in Gaza City and the central camps”, while establishing secure corridors and safe zones to allow civilians to leave the area. “Israel has no choice but to finish the job and complete the defeat of Hamas. Now, we’ve done a great deal. We have about 70 to 75 percent of Gaza under Israeli control, military control,” he said.”But we have two remaining strongholds, OK? These are Gaza City and the central camps in Al Mawasi.”A Hamas spokesperson later called the prime minister’s comments a “series of lies”.- ‘Just another plan’ -In Gaza, an Israeli strike on Sunday killed five Al Jazeera journalists, including a prominent reporter, according to the Qatar-based broadcaster.The attack was the latest to see journalists targeted in Gaza, with around 200 media workers killed over the course of the conflict, according to media watchdogs.Over the weekend, thousands of people took to the streets in Tel Aviv to protest the security cabinet’s decision.”The new plan is just another plan that is gonna fail, and it could very well be the end of our hostages, and of course, it will take probably more lives of our soldiers,” protester Joel Obodov told AFP. Netanyahu has faced regular protests over the course of the war, with many rallies calling for the government to strike a ceasefire and hostage-release deal after past truces saw captives exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody. Netanyahu, however, has also come under pressure from the far right to go harder on Hamas, with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich slamming the new plan as half-hearted.”They decided once again to repeat the same approach, embarking on a military operation that does not aim for a decisive resolution,” Smotrich said.The far-right members of Netanyahu’s cabinet, including Smotrich, have maintained considerable influence in the coalition government throughout the war — with their support seen as vital to holding at least 61 seats for a parliamentary majority.National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, also of the far right, told Kan radio on Sunday: “It is possible to achieve victory. I want all of Gaza, transfer and colonisation. This plan will not endanger the troops.”- ‘We will win’ -The cabinet’s decision to expand the war touched off a wave of criticism across the globe.”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 a Security Council meeting on Sunday.Foreign powers, including some of Israel’s allies, have been pushing for a truce to secure the hostages’ return and alleviate a humanitarian crisis, following repeated warnings of famine taking hold.Despite the backlash and rumours of dissent from Israeli military top brass, Netanyahu has remained firm.”We will win the war, with or without the support of others,” he told the press on Sunday.”Our goal is not to occupy Gaza, but to establish a civilian administration in the Strip that is not affiliated with Hamas or the Palestinian Authority,” he said. The premier’s office later said he had spoken by phone with US President Donald Trump to discuss the new military plans.Out of 251 hostages captured during Hamas’s 2023 attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the military says are dead.Israel’s offensive has killed at least 61,430 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, figures the United Nations says are reliable.According to Gaza’s civil defence agency, at least 27 people were killed by Israeli fire across the territory Sunday, including 11 who were waiting near aid distribution centres. Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the war, resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

A UN official on Sunday warned the Security Council that Israel’s plans to control Gaza City risked “another calamity” with far-reaching consequences, as Benjamin Netanyahu insisted his goal was not to occupy the territory.The United Nations Security Council held a rare emergency weekend meeting after Israel said its military would “take control” of Gaza City in a plan approved by Prime Minister Netanyahu’s security cabinet that sparked a wave of global criticism.”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.The UN’s humanitarian office OCHA said 98 children had died from acute malnutrition since the start of the conflict in October 2023, with 37 of those deaths since July, according to Gaza’s authorities.”This is no longer a looming hunger crisis — this is starvation, pure and simple,” said OCHA’s coordination director Ramesh Rajasingham.Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour said Sunday “over two million victims are enduring unbearable agony,” calling Israel’s plans for Gaza City “illegal and immoral,” and for foreign journalists to be allowed into Gaza.Netanyahu announced on Sunday a plan to allow more foreign journalists to report inside Gaza — accompanied by the Israeli military.- Sanctions calls -Britain, a close ally of Israel which nonetheless pushed for an emergency meeting on the crisis, warned the Israeli plan risked prolonging the conflict.”It will only deepen the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. This is not a path to resolution. It is a path to more bloodshed,” said British deputy ambassador to the UN James Kariuki.World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus echoed that sentiment, calling the Israeli plan “deeply worrying, given the already dire humanitarian and health situation across the Strip.”But Netanyahu said Sunday his country was “talking in terms of a fairly short timetable because we want to bring the war to an end,” as he insisted Israel did not want to occupy Gaza.Outside the meeting at UN headquarters in New York, a small but noisy protest calling for an end to the conflict was met by a large police presence.The United States, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, accused those nations who supported Sunday’s meeting of “actively prolonging the war by spreading lies about Israel.””Israel has a right to decide what is necessary for its security and what measure measures are appropriate to end the threat posed by Hamas,” said US envoy to the UN Dorothy Shea. Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UN Jonathan Miller said “pressure should not be placed on Israel, who suffered the most horrific attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, but on Hamas.” Algeria’s Ambassador Amar Bendjama called for sanctions on Israel in response to its Gaza City plan.”The hour has come to impose sanctions on the enemy of humanity,” he said.”If it was another country, you would have been imposing sanctions a long time ago,” the Palestinian envoy Mansour said.

Several hundred people marched on Sunday in London to demand Hamas release the Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian militant group in Gaza and criticise Britain’s planned recognition of the State of Palestine.Joined by several relatives of the hostages, the march ended at the 10 Downing Street office of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has said the UK will recognise a Palestinian state if Israel does not agree to a truce in its war with Hamas. Many of the protesters waved Israeli flags or wore yellow ribbons, a symbol of solidarity with the hostages, whose liberation the organisers of the march argue should be the Labour leader’s priority.Of the 251 hostages Hamas seized in its October 7, 2023 attack which began the war in Gaza, 49 are still held captive, including 27 who the Israeli army says are dead. Among the demonstrators were Ayelet Stavitsky, sister of dead hostage Nadav Popplewell, and Adam Ma’anit, cousin of Tsachi Idan, who died while held by Hamas.”I think that the government got it wrong with its foreign policy, that it’s time for it to correct and refocus on the hostages,” said Ma’anit, criticising Starmer’s planned recognition of a Palestinian state in September.Three people, identified as counter-protesters, were arrested, two of them for violent acts, police said.Israel has faced mounting outcry over the 22-month-long war with Hamas, with United Nations-backed experts warning of widespread famine in besieged Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under mounting pressure to secure the release of the remaining hostages, as well as over his plans to expand the Gaza war, which he has vowed to do without the backing of Israel’s allies abroad.Starmer’s move towards recognising a State of Palestine follows on from similar pledges made by leaders including France’s President Emmanuel Macron, as international disquiet over the dire humanitarian in the Palestinian territory grows.Israel’s offensive has killed at least 61,430 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, whose toll the United Nations considers reliable.Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the war, resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.