Gaza’s civil defense spokesman denies being a member of Hamas

After the army accused the spokesman for Gaza’s civil defense of being a Hamas terrorist, Mahmoud Bassal denies the allegation.

Citing documents found during its forces’ Gaza offensive, the IDF said Bassal was “an active terrorist” in the group whose October 2023 attack on Israel sparked the Gaza war. It issued copies of what it said were Hamas membership lists to the media. The military accused Bassal of serving Hamas’s objectives by spreading false and unverified information about its operations in Gaza.

“This is a false accusation,” Bassal tells AFP. “I do not work for any military organization,” he says, adding that the agency’s mission is guided by international law.

Beyond the IDF’s latest specific accusation against Bassal, all organizations operating in Gaza do so at the pleasure of Hamas since its 2007 violent takeover of the enclave.