Al Jazeera denies Israeli accusations that its journalists have ties to Hamas

Qatar-based Al Jazeera on Thursday rejected Israeli accusations that one of its journalists injured in an Israeli bombing in the Gaza Strip was a Hamas member.

“The station condemns the charges brought against its journalists and recalls Israel’s long list of lies and evidence tampering to cover up its heinous crimes,” Al Jazeera leaders wrote in a statement.

According to the channel, its correspondent Ismail Abu Omar and cameraman Ahmed Matar were wounded as a result of an Israeli attack in the Rafah sector in the south of the Gaza Strip.

However, the Israeli army accused Ismail Abu Omar of being “deputy company commander of the Hamas Eastern Battalion in Khan Yunis”, a town near Rafah.

“Abu Omar filmed himself at Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7 massacre and published [o seu vídeo] on social media,” the Israeli military said in a statement on Wednesday.

This statement, however, has no evidence to support the accusation and contains unverified allegations from Jewish sources.

In its statement, Al Jazeera said its “employment policy stipulates that employees should not have any political affiliation that could influence their professionalism.”

He also accused Israel of systematically targeting its employees in the Gaza Strip.

In early January, two of its journalists, Hamza Dadouh and Mustafa Thuraya, were killed when their car was attacked in southern Palestinian territory.

The Israeli military then accused them of being “terrorist agents” and “flying drones posing an immediate threat to Israeli troops,” but the family and employer denied these accusations.

In December, an Israeli attack also killed cameraman Samer Abu Dakka.

The head of Al-Jazvir’s office in the Gaza Strip, Wael Dadu, the father of Hamza Dadu, was also wounded in this war, in the attack that killed Abu Daqa.