Truth about Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza whom Israel dubbed as Hamas and Islamic Jihad members- The Week

Israel has claimed that six Al Jazeera journalists based in Gaza are operatives of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. In response, the Doha-based network called the allegations ‘baseless and unfounded’.

This comes after Israel Defense Forces (IDF) raided Al Jazeera’s office in West Bank’s Ramallah last month, ordering the network to shut down its operations for 45 days.

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The IDF has released the names and photos of the six journalists, who it referred to as “Hamas and Islamic Jihad Terrorists”. It said it has unravelled intelligence information and numerous documents found in Gaza, confirming military affiliation of the journalists with Hamas and other Islamic Jihad terrorist organisations.

IDF claimed it accessed the lists of personnel, terrorist training courses, phone directories and salary documents, alleging these are proof of how the Hamas operatives are integrated within the Qatari Al Jazeera media network.

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The journalists named by IDF were Anas al-Sharif, Talal Aruki, Alaa Salama, Hossam Shabat, Ismail Farid and Ashraf Saraj.

In response, the network said Al Jazeera categorically rejects IDF’s portrayal of its journalists as terrorists, dismissing the alleged evidence as “fabricated”. It said the accusations are an attempt to silence the few remaining journalists in the region.