Israel accuses 6 Palestinian journalists covering its assault on north Gaza of militancy

The Israeli military published the names and pictures on Wednesday evening of six Palestinian journalists in the north of the Gaza Strip who it claims are affiliated with Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The journalists, all of whom work with Al-Jazeera, are some of the few still able to cover the unprecedented Israeli invasion of northern Gaza — an operation considered the most brutal assault on the strip in the year of Israel’s war on Palestinians.

Al-Jazeera and Hamas have denied the allegations against the correspondents, as did Hossam Shabat, a photojournalist who is among those accused. Shabat described the statement on Wednesday night as a blatant way to transform the journalists, the last witnesses in the north, into killable targets and an “obvious attempt to preemptively justify our murder,” citing the frequent active targeting of journalists and other service workers by Israeli forces. 

Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Ardaee published a post on X on Wednesday claiming that the military had “uncovered” documents which showed that the six journalists were affiliated with Hamas and the PIJ. .

Adrae published names and images of Shabat, Anas al-Sharif, Talal Aruki, Ismail Farid and Ashraf Saraj, claiming that the documents, which apparently included staff schedules, lists of fighters training courses, phone books and salary documents, were obtained during military activity in the strip and “unequivocally prove” the journalists’ involvement with Hamas.

Sharif, a Palestinian journalist from Jabalia, has covered Israeli violence against civilians in the strip throughout the past year. His father was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Jabalia in December 2023. Sharif has been threatened by Israeli forces on previous occasions.

Shabat stated in a post on X that the Israeli public threat is part of a systematic propaganda campaign “to justify the unjustifiable” as Israel continues to target civilians in Gaza, including doctors, aid workers, children and journalists.

Amid an unprecedented operation which has persisted for 20 days so far in the northern part of Gaza, Israeli forces have besieged, stormed and bombed civilians in their homes, shelters, hospitals and in the streets. Many are at risk of starvation as supplies cannot be delivered due to  heavy Israeli fire. 

“Al Jazeera categorically rejects the Israeli occupation forces’ portrayal of our journalists as terrorists and denounces their use of fabricated evidence,” the network said again on Wednesday night. 

On Thursday, Hamas also denied the allegations, explaining that the six journalists are doing their job in covering Israel’s crimes and forced displacement of civilians in Gaza, describing the allegations as “blatant incitement that paves the way for their targeting.” 

The group added that the allegations are a prior announcement of Israeli intention to target Al Jazeera journalists, much like with other journalists from the network or many other local and international media agencies over the course of the past year. 

The Committee to Protect Journalists  also issued a statement on Wednesday accusing Israel of having “repeatedly made similar unproven claims without producing credible evidence.”

CPJ referred a previous occasion in which Israeli forces, after killing Palestinian journalist Ismail al-Ghoul alongside cameraman Ramy al-Rify in an airstrike on the Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza, produced a similar document alleging that Ghoul had formerly held a military rank for Hamas’s military wing and had taken part in the October 7 attacks in Israeli territory.

CPJ said the prior allegation contained “contradictory information” about Ghoul, claiming that he had supposedly received a military ranking in July 2007, when the journalist, who was born in 1997, would have been a 10-year-old child.

At the time, Al Jazeera denied what it called "baseless allegations"against the Ghoul, adding that it is an attempt by Israel to justify the deliberate killing of its journalists.

Israel has a history of targeting and killing journalists covering atrocities it has committed against Palestinians and other civilians in the region. 

Al-Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in May 2022 while covering Israeli forces’ raids on Jenin in the West Bank, while Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was targeted and killed in south Lebanon by Israeli tank fire in October, 2023.

The pace of targeting has quickened amid the Occupation’s operations in the Gaza Strip over the past 12 months, with 128 Palestinian journalists and media workers killed in the past year, according to a letter that the Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations sent to the UN secretary-general, the president of the General Assembly and the president of the Security Council on October 8. 

At the same time, Israel has limited access to the strip for international journalists and  independent outlets, raiding Al Jazeera’s Bureau in the West Bank’s Ramallah last month and ordering its immediate closure after a decision by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu’s cabinet was issued in May 2024 to shut down its  operations in Israel.

The number of journalists killed so far is the highest recorded for any singular conflict since the CPJ began recording journalist killings in 1992, according to the UN letter, which added that “clearly, Israel aims to silence their voices in order to conceal its crimes from the world.” 

The ground operations launched by Israeli forces in northern Gaza at the beginning of October continued on Thursday. Heavy fire has destroyed homes and shelters in Jabalia and its camp as well as neighboring Beit Lahia to Jabalia’s northeast. 

Israeli soldiers on the ground have forced people to evacuate to areas in the northwest while conducting  mass arrests on designated evacuation routes.