While many around the world mourned their losses, the BBC’s coverage of the slain journalists received backlash for repeating Israel’s accusation that Sharif had a “dual role” as “journalist and terrorist”.

Israel has routinely made such claims about journalists, which have been strongly rejected by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

One social media user suggested that this was a character assassination, right after Israel killed him.

In another report, a BBC news anchor said, “Israel says Anas Al-Sharif was a member of Hamas, a claim long rejected by the news network, his family, and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).”

For many on social media, the news anchor adding the fact that Al Jazeera and the CPJ rejected these claims was not enough, with one saying, “the BBC stooped so low it should be banned from broadcasting after parroting the Israeli narrative.”