Al Jazeera fires back at Israeli claims of its reporters' Hamas ties

Al Jazeera Media Network has condemned Israeli accusations that six Palestinians working for the channel had links to Hamas or Islamic Jihad.

"Al Jazeera condemns Israeli accusations against its journalists in Gaza and warns against (this) being a justification for targeting them," the network said in a statement on Wednesday.

The condemnation came after the Israeli military named six Palestinians in Gaza as Al Jazeera reporters who it said were also members of the Hamas or Islamic Jihad groups.

Among the journalists named by the Israeli army are Talal Mahmoud Abdul Rahman Aruki, Alaa Abdul Aziz Muhammad Salama, Anas Jamal Mahmoud al-Sharif, Hossam Basel Abdul Karim Shabat, Ismail Farid Muhammad Abu Omar, Ashraf Sami Ashour Saraj.

The Israeli military published documents which it said it had found in Gaza that proved the men had affiliation to the groups, saying the papers included lists of personnel details, salaries and training courses, phone directories and injury reports.

The authenticity of the documents, however, could not be immediately verified.

Al Jazeera said: "The network views these fabricated accusations as a blatant attempt to silence the few remaining journalists in the region, thereby obscuring the harsh realities of the war from audiences worldwide."

No credible evidence

Israel has long accused Al Jazeera of being a Hamas mouthpiece and over the past year its authorities have ordered it to shut down its operations for security reasons, raided its offices and confiscated equipment.

Al Jazeera has said the Israeli actions against it were criminal, draconian and irresponsible and that the latest allegations were "part of a wider pattern of hostility" towards it.

The network says it has no affiliation with either of the groups and has accused Israeli forces of deliberately killing several of its journalists in the Gaza war, including Samer Abu Daqqa and Hamza AlDahdooh.

Israel has killed at least 180 Palestinian journalists in Gaza, the highest in any war in the world, since October 7, 2023.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), meanwhile, has voiced concern over accusations made by the Israeli authorities.

CPJ said Israel has made similar claims in the past but failed to provide credible evidence, highlighting a July incident where the Israeli authorities allegedly presented contradictory information regarding the killing of Al Jazeera correspondent Ismail Al Ghoul.

According to CPJ, the Israeli authorities claimed that Al Ghoul, born in 1997, received a Hamas military ranking in 2007 — when he would have been just 10 years old.