Israel accuses 6 Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza of being Palestinian militants

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The Israeli military on Wednesday accused six Al Jazeera journalists covering the war in Gaza of also being current or former paid fighters of Palestinian militant groups. Al Jazeera rejected the claims.

Israel cited documents it allegedly found in Gaza and other intelligence it gathered to make the allegations against the journalists, all of whom are Palestinian. It said four are or have been affiliated with Hamas and two with Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Al Jazeera said the allegations were “fabricated” and “part of a wider pattern of hostility” towards the pan-Arab network. He said the claims were “a blatant attempt to silence the few remaining journalists in the region, thereby hiding the harsh realities of war from a worldwide audience.”

The Associated Press has not been able to independently verify the authenticity of the documents Israel posted online to support its claims.

Al Jazeera is based in the energy-rich nation of Qatar, where many senior Hamas officials are based. The Gulf Arab country, which funds Al Jazeera, has also been a key player in the Gaza ceasefire negotiations, along with the US and Egypt.

Al Jazeera journalists Anas al-Sharif, Hossam Shabat, Ismael Abu Omar and Talal Arrouki were accused by Israel of links to Hamas. Ashraf Saraj and Alaa Salameh were accused of links to Islamic Jihad.

The men have served in various roles, according to the documents cited by Israel: sniper, infantryman, fighter, captain, training coordinator and “propaganda”.

The Committee to Protect Journalists released a statement Wednesday critical of Israel, which it said has “repeatedly made similar unproven claims without producing credible evidence.”

In July, after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City killed two Al Jazeera journalists, including Ismail Al Ghoul, Israel “produced a similar document, containing conflicting information, showing that Al Ghoul, born in 1997, received a military ranking from Hamas in 2007 – when he would have been 10 years old,” the committee said in its statement.

Militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad led last year’s attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostages in Gaza. For the past year they have been fighting each other against Israeli troops in Gaza.

In January, Israel detailed allegations against 12 employees of a United Nations agency it says were involved in the Hamas attack on Israel last year that ignited the Gaza war. The United Nations Refugee Agency, or UNRWA, later fired at least 21 workers for their role in the attack. UNRWA has been the main provider of food, water and shelter to civilians in Gaza during the war.

Four Al Jazeera journalists have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza in the past 12 months, according to the network. Later, several of the dead have been accused by Israel of being members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad, accusations rejected by the Qatar channel.

In May, after an Israeli court ordered the closure of Al Jazeera’s operations and broadcasts in Israel, police raided a hotel room in East Jerusalem from where the network had been broadcasting live footage.

It was the first time Israel shut down a foreign news outlet. Four months later, Israel attacked Al Jazeera’s office in the Palestinian-ruled West Bank city of Ramallah and closed the office there.

Several of those named by Israel on Wednesday, including al-Sharif, have become leading figures in the 24-hour live coverage of Gaza. They have acquired celebrity status among the Palestinians and in other Middle Eastern countries.

Al Jazeera is one of the few news organizations still broadcasting daily from the besieged enclave.

The documents and intelligence information that Israel released on Wednesday allegedly show the rank, role, enlistment date and battalion of each of the six Al Jazeera journalists.

At least 128 journalists have been killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and Lebanon since last October, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. They include 123 Palestinians, two Israelis and three Lebanese.

Israel has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians in Gaza since the war began, according to the local health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and militants, but says more than half of those killed are women and children.

Even before the war, tensions between Al Jazeera and Israel were very high. Israeli forces shot and killed Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist, in May 2022 while reporting a story in the West Bank.

Israel is not Al Jazeera’s only critic. The US singled out the station during its occupation of Iraq after its 2003 invasion toppled dictator Saddam Hussein and for airing videos of the late al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden, who orchestrated the attack on on September 11, 2001 against the US.

Al Jazeera has been shut down or blocked by other Middle Eastern governments. In 2013, Egyptian authorities seeking to crush mass protests against President Mohammed Morsi raided a luxury hotel used by Al Jazeera.

___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.