The free speech group has said that Israel’s killing of five Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza “raises grave concerns” and “could amount to a war crime”, Al Jazeera reports.

“This attack not only wiped out an entire team of journalists — at a time when there are fewer and fewer voices able to report from Gaza — but also took six more Palestinian lives in an onslaught that has already claimed thousands of lives,” said Liesl Gerntholtz, managing director of the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Center at PEN America.

“The fact that [Anas] al-Sharif’s family, friends, and colleagues must now defend him from unsupported accusations rather than being able to mourn him and honour his legacy as a journalist adds to the disgraceful nature of this crime,” added Gerntholtz.

PEN America also noted that al-Sharif was previously part of a Reuters team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2024.