IDF releases more documents it says show cooperation between Hamas and Al Jazeera
Army says papers shows terror group coordinated with network on covering up failed rocket launches and in some cases instructed outlet not to criticize it on air
The IDF on Thursday published further documents captured in Gaza that it said indicated close cooperation between Hamas and Al Jazeera, including papers in which the terror group advised the Qatari network not to criticize it, and in which the sides coordinated on concealing incidents of failed rocket launches.
The release came a day after the army publicized documents uncovered in the Gaza Strip that it said showed that six active Al Jazeera reporters are operatives in Palestinian terror groups.
The IDF said the latest documents proved direct communication and cooperation between the Qatari network and Hamas.
According to the army, the first document, which was issued by Hamas in 2022, provided Al Jazeera with instructions on how to cover up a failed Islamic Jihad rocket launch in Jabaliya, in which several civilians were killed.
The document instructed Al Jazeera not to use the word “massacre” to describe the incident, to display minimal images, and to ensure Hamas was not criticized in panel discussions on the channel.
In a second document, also from 2022, Hamas instructed journalist Tamer Almisshall to support the “resistance” in his coverage of Palestinian Islamic Jihad during a 66-hour battle between Israel and the terror group, dubbed Operation Breaking Dawn.
The army said the document specifically instructed Al Jazeera not to criticize PIJ’s rocket capabilities or highlight its failed launches.
The military also released what it said was evidence of Hamas’s efforts in 2023 to establish a secure line between the terror group and the network for classified information and emergencies.
“The documents reveal how Hamas directs Al Jazeera’s media coverage to serve its own interests, preventing the public in Gaza and around the world from discovering the truth about its crimes against Gazan civilians,” the IDF said in a statement.
On Wednesday, the army said it had uncovered documents in the Gaza Strip that showed six active Al Jazeera reporters are operatives in the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups.
The journalists were named by the IDF as Anas al-Sharif, Alaa Salameh, Hossam Shabat, Ashraf al-Sarraj, Ismail Abu Omar and Talal al-Arrouqi.
According to the IDF, al-Sharif has served as head of a rocket launching squad and a member of a Nukhba Force company in Hamas’s Nuseirat Battalion; Salameh as the deputy head of the Shaboura Battalion’s propaganda unit in Islamic Jihad; Shabat as a sniper in Hamas’s Beit Hanoun Battalion; al-Sarraj as a member of Islamic Jihad’s Bureij Battalion; Abu Omar as a training company commander in the East Khan Younis Battalion (and was wounded in an Israeli airstrike several months ago); and al-Arrouqi as a team commander in Hamas’s Nuseirat Battalion.
“These documents are proof of the involvement of Hamas terrorists in the Qatari media network, Al-Jazeera,” the IDF said.
It added that the named journalists are “spearheading” the spread of Hamas propaganda on Al Jazeera, especially in the northern Gaza Strip.
In a response, the network said it “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.”
In January, Israel said an Al Jazeera staff journalist and a freelancer killed in an airstrike in Gaza were terror operatives. The following month, it accused another journalist with the channel, who was wounded in a separate strike, of being a deputy company commander with Hamas.
Al Jazeera has fiercely denied Israel’s allegations and accused it of systematically targeting Al Jazeera employees in the Gaza Strip.
In April, the government passed an emergency law to take the network off the air and block its broadcasts for violating national security. Courts have upheld the legislation, citing confidential information.
In June, a court found that there is a direct and causal connection between individuals who have carried out terror attacks inside Israel and the consumption of Al Jazeera content. It also determined that there was a “close connection” between Al Jazeera and Hamas, that some Al Jazeera reporters in Gaza had turned themselves into “assistants and partners” with Hamas, and that some of them had even carried out terror attacks.
Last month, Israel’s Government Press Office announced that it was revoking the press cards of Al Jazeera journalists working in Israel.
