The Israeli military acknowledged targeting the car of journalist Hamza Al-Dahdouh (son of Wael Al-Dahdouh, Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Gaza) and his colleague Mustafa Thraya in Gaza last Sunday. They were on a journalistic assignment in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, at the time of the incident. The Israeli army claimed that these two journalists were “terrorist elements” operating drones in a manner that posed a threat to Israeli forces.
On Wednesday evening, the Israeli military claimed that Al-Dahdouh and Thraya were operating drones that threatened Israeli forces before the airstrike. The military stated it is verifying the type of drone and the nature of the threat posed by the two journalists.
The Israeli army alleged that Al-Dahdouh was a member of the Saraya al-Quds, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, and that Thraya was a member of Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement. The army claimed to have found documents in the Gaza battlefield indicating the organizational structures of Palestinian factions, including the names of these two journalists.
According to Israeli claims, the documents suggest that Al-Dahdouh previously held the position of a deputy commander in the Zaytoun battalion of Islamic Jihad and is currently a regional officer in the movement’s missile unit.
Al Jazeera Media Network condemned the assassination of its colleagues and the severe injury of journalist Hazem Rajab in an Israeli airstrike north of Rafah in southern Gaza. In a statement, Al Jazeera stressed the need for immediate and necessary legal actions against Israeli forces to ensure they do not escape accountability.
The Israeli forces have systematically targeted Al-Dahdouh and his family. His wife, son, daughter, and grandchild were killed in November 2023, and he and his colleague, the late cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa, were targeted in December 2023.
