Al Jazeera has Strongly refuse The Israeli navy claimed that the correspondent killed in an airstrike in Gaza this week was a Hamas operative concerned within the October 7 assault.
Harrowing footage shared on social media confirmed Ismail Gul’s physique being decapitated after being attacked in his automotive in Gaza Metropolis on Wednesday.
His photographer, Rami al-Rifi, and Khalid Shawa, a boy passing by on his bicycle, have been additionally killed.
Whereas regional information this week has been dominated by different high-profile assassinations, many Palestinians are additionally involved in regards to the killing of a distinguished native journalist.
In a press release on Thursday, the Israel Protection Forces (IDF) described Ismail Ghor as a “Hamas navy wing operative and Nuhba terrorist”, suggesting he was a member of the armed group’s elite unit.
As a part of his duties, he allegedly “instructed different brokers the best way to doc operations and was actively concerned in documenting and publicizing assaults in opposition to IDF items”.
Al Jazeera known as the accusations in opposition to its employees “baseless” and mentioned it “underscores Israel’s lengthy historical past of fabricating lies and false proof used to cowl up its heinous crimes.”
Ismail’s brother Jihad additionally informed the BBC that his late brother was only a civilian who “portrayed the struggling of the Palestinian folks in Gaza to the surface world”.
The Gaza Metropolis-based journalist has change into an everyday visitor on the Qatari TV channel, a well-liked information supply within the area however strongly criticized by Israeli authorities.
Prayers have been held in Gaza on Friday for the late Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated within the Iranian capital Tehran, and a few Palestinians mentioned they have been additionally considering of these killed nearer to house. folks.
“I am so heartbroken for Ismail [al-Ghoul]”, feedback Maha Sarsak, who has been displaced from Shujaya to the middle of the zone. “I observe the information within the north by way of him on social media. We don’t at all times have tv, however We are able to hear his voice on the radio.
This week, journalists in Gaza put down their physique armor at a gathering to honor Ghor and Riffey.
A pal of the 2 mentioned: “They have not slept or eaten for a number of days. They’ve even misplaced loads of weight.
Ismail al-Ghoul reported on the Israeli assault on Shifa hospital in March and was arrested by the IDF on the scene however launched 12 hours later with none fees. Al Jazeera claimed this “debunked and refuted their false claims that he had hyperlinks to any group”.
The final project for Al Jazeera’s two journalists was to collect responses to the information of Haniyeh’s dying. Their automotive was attacked close to the destroyed home of Hamas leaders close to town’s refugee camp, al-Shadi camp.
In the course of the struggle, Israel banned worldwide journalists from coming into the Palestinian territories, apart from restricted and extremely managed visits with the Israeli navy. Egypt additionally banned journalists earlier than closing the Rafah crossing with Gaza.
For greater than a decade, many networks, together with the BBC, have relied on native Palestinian employees for on-the-ground reporting and have employed new employees or freelancers.
Al Jazeera mentioned Ismail Gul had been working on the channel since November. He was mentioned to have suffered “struggling” throughout the struggle, together with the lack of his father and brother.
Different photographers spoke of how al-Rifi used his technical experience to assist them with their shoots.
After pictures of the dying of Khaled al-Shawa, a boy killed within the strike, have been broadly publicized, the boy’s mom posted a message on social media imploring folks to recollect him too.
“My son isn’t an unknown martyr,” she mentioned. “We should title our martyrs. They need to not speak about us as numbers.
Al Jazeera, which broadcasts in English and Arabic, has lately been the positioning of a collection of assaults in opposition to employees and their households in Gaza.
In late October, the community’s distinguished bureau chief, Wael Dahdouh, was reporting when he acquired broadcast information that his spouse, daughter, son and grandson had been killed in Israeli air strikes.
In December, he was injured in an assault that additionally killed one other Al Jazeera cameraman, Samer Abudaqa.
In January, Dadouh’s son Hamza and video journalist Mustafa Turia have been killed in a strike whereas working for Al Jazeera. The Israel Protection Forces later claimed the lads have been “members of a terrorist group in Gaza”.
Al Jazeera has beforehand strongly denied Israel’s claims and accused it of systematically concentrating on its staff.
The community additionally condemned the Israeli authorities’s determination in Might to ban the present from airing within the nation, saying it endangered nationwide safety. Final month, the Tel Aviv District Court docket prolonged the ban.
The United Nations has known as for a full investigation and accountability into the killings of Al Jazeera journalists and others, saying journalists all over the world have to be protected.
There are various statistics on the variety of media employees killed for the reason that unprecedented, lethal Hamas-led assault on Israel that sparked the struggle in Gaza.
Nevertheless, in accordance with Committee to Defend JournalistsThe most recent deaths in Gaza carry the variety of journalists killed to 113, together with 108 Palestinians, three Lebanese and two Israelis killed within the October 7 assault.
