IDF says slain Al Jazeera reporter was a Hamas commando, took part in Oct. 7 massacre
Military says Ismail al-Ghoul was member of Hamas’s elite Nukhba force, directed terrorists on how to film, distribute videos of attacks on Israeli troops
The IDF confirmed carrying out a strike in Gaza City on Wednesday that killed Al Jazeera reporter Ismail al-Ghoul, and said he was a member of Hamas’s elite Nukhba force who participated in the October 7 onslaught.
In addition to his participation in the massacres in southern Israel, al-Ghoul also instructed other terror operatives on how to film and distribute videos of attacks on Israeli troops, according to the military.
“This activity is an integral part of the terror organization’s military action,” the army said.
“The IDF and the Shin Bet are making every effort to attack and eliminate terrorists who took part in the October 7 massacre and will continue to do so,” the statement added.
The airstrike also killed Al Jazeera cameraman Ramy El-Rify.
In a statement on Wednesday, Hamas condemned the killings as a “heinous crime” which it said was “aimed at terrorizing and silencing” Palestinian journalists as they reported “the ongoing genocide against our people in the Gaza Strip for nearly 10 months.”
Al Jazeera, which broadcasts in English and Arabic, has been the focus of months of criticism from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government.
In early May, the government banned Al Jazeera in Israel, shuttering and raiding its offices, alleging it was actively harming national security. Last month, the Tel Aviv District Court extended the ban on the network.
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.
Thousands of terrorists broke through the border fence from Gaza on October 7, rampaging through Israel’s southern towns and murdering some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, while carrying out other atrocities like mutilation and sexual abuse.
They also took 251 hostages, 111 of whom are believed to still be held captive in Gaza, including the bodies of 39 confirmed dead by the IDF.
