IDF: 5 Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives killed in Gaza strike were ‘posing as journalists’

The IDF details the positions of five Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives killed in an airstrike overnight in central Gaza’s Nuseirat.

The military says the five terror operatives were “posing as journalists.” The Palestinian TV channel Al-Quds Today, which is affiliated with Islamic Jihad, identified those killed in the airstrike as its staffers.

The military says the strike killed Ibrahim Jamal Ibrahim al-Sheikh Ali, an operations officer and involved in Islamic Jihad’s combat propaganda; Faisal Abdallah Muhammad Abu Qamsan, head of Islamic Jihad’s security in Nuseirat; Mohammed Ayad Khamis al-Lada’a, involved in Islamic Jihad’s combat propaganda; Ayman Nihad Abd Alrahman Jadi, involved in Islamic Jihad’s combat propaganda, and a former member of the terror group’s naval force; and Fadi Ihab Muhammad Ramadan Hassouna, also involved in Islamic Jihad’s combat propaganda.

According to the IDF, “intelligence from multiple sources confirmed that these individuals were Islamic Jihad operatives posing as journalists.”

The military says one of the sources was a list of Islamic Jihad operatives that was captured by troops in Gaza. “This list explicitly identified four of the eliminated individuals as members of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization,” the army says.

The IDF says it took steps to mitigate civilian harm in the strike.