The Israeli military confirmed on Thursday that it had killed Al Jazeera journalist Ismail al-Ghoul in an airstrike in Gaza. The military said he was a Hamas member who took part in the October 7 attack on Israel. However, the military did not provide any evidence of this.
Al Jazeera described the allegations as “baseless” and said they were an attempt to justify the deliberate killing of its journalists.
“The network condemns the accusations made against its correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul, for which no evidence, documents or video have been provided,” the network said in a statement, adding that it reserved the right to take legal action against those responsible.
The Qatari broadcaster said on Wednesday that al-Ghoul and cameraman Rami el Rifi were killed in an Israeli attack on Gaza City while they were filming near the home of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Iran the same day.
The Israeli military said al-Ghoul was a member of the Nukhba unit who took part in the October 7 attack and taught Hamas operatives how to record the operation. It said he was involved in recording and publicising attacks on Israeli soldiers.
“Their activities in the area were an important part of Hamas’ military activity,” the Israeli military said in a statement.
Al Jazeera said al-Ghoul had been working for the network since November 2023 and that his sole occupation was a journalist.
It said he was arrested in March by the Israeli army at Al-Shifa Hospital in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, and was later released. It added that this “refutes the Israeli army’s false claim that he belongs to any organisation.”
The Israeli government has banned Al-Jazeera from operating in Israel, accusing it of posing a threat to national security.
Al Jazeera, which has been strongly critical of Israel’s operation in Gaza, has denied inciting the violence.
The Hamas-run Gaza government’s media office said the deaths of the two Al Jazeera journalists brought to 165 the number of Palestinian journalists killed by Israeli fire since October 7.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
