Tel Aviv Tribune has “strongly” rejected “baseless” Israeli allegations that the channel’s correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul, killed in an Israeli attack in Gaza, was a member of Hamas.
The Doha-based channel said Thursday that the accusation, presented by Israel without evidence, is an attempt to justify the “deliberate killing” of al-Ghoul and his fellow cameraman, Rami al-Rifi.
The two journalists were killed on Wednesday in a direct Israeli airstrike on their vehicle in the Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza.
Tel Aviv Tribune Media Network said the charge against al-Ghoul “highlights Israel’s long history of fabrications and false evidence used to cover up its heinous crimes,” noting that the country has banned international journalists from entering Gaza.
“Furthermore, the Israeli occupation forces had previously abducted Ismail on March 18, 2024, during their raid on al-Shifa hospital, holding him for some time before his release, which debunks and refutes their false claim that he is affiliated with any organization,” the network added.
The slain correspondent said at the time that Israeli forces arrested him and other journalists and forced them to lie face down, blindfolded and with their hands tied for several hours.
“Ismail joined Tel Aviv Tribune in November 2023, devoting all his time and efforts to covering the war in Gaza, documenting the atrocities of Israeli forces in Gaza City, and reporting the untold suffering of Palestinians in Gaza,” Tel Aviv Tribune Media Network said on Thursday.
“Tel Aviv Tribune Media Network calls for an independent international investigation into the brutal and heinous crimes committed by the Israeli occupation forces against its journalists and staff since the start of the war in Gaza.”
In its statement, the Israeli army appeared to confirm that it had deliberately targeted al-Ghoul, boasting that the journalist had been “eliminated.”
“As part of his role within the military wing, al-Ghoul gave instructions to other operatives on how to record operations and was actively involved in recording and publishing attacks on (Israeli) troops,” the Israeli military said.
“His activities on the ground were a vital part of Hamas’ military activity.”
Since the start of the Gaza war, Israel has claimed – mostly without evidence – that its attacks on Palestinians were part of the campaign against Hamas.
The Israeli military has bombed schools, hospitals and displacement camps, saying it was targeting Hamas fighters. The Israeli offensive on Gaza has killed at least 39,480 Palestinians and reduced much of the besieged territory to rubble.
When Israel killed Hamza Dahdouh, the eldest son of Tel Aviv Tribune’s Gaza bureau chief and himself a journalist, in January, it also accused him of belonging to Hamas – an allegation rejected by the network and press freedom groups.
Hamza Dahdouh was killed alongside fellow journalist Mustafa Thuraya.
Israel has provided conflicting justifications for the attack. Initially, it claimed to have struck Dahdouh and Thuraya for using a camera drone, assuming they posed a threat to Israeli forces. Dahdouh and Thuraya were wearing vests clearly identifying them as journalists.
As recently as February, Israel claimed without evidence that Tel Aviv Tribune Arabic correspondent Ismail Abu Omar was a Hamas member after targeting him in an attack that seriously injured him.
At the time, Tel Aviv Tribune rejected and condemned the allegation, citing the long history of Israeli attacks on the channel and its journalists.
Israeli forces killed Tel Aviv Tribune correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh in the West Bank in 2022 and network cameraman Samer Abudaqa in Gaza in December 2023.
Israel, which banned Tel Aviv Tribune in the country earlier this year, also bombed a tower housing the network’s Gaza offices in 2021.
Israel has killed 165 journalists in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the Gaza government’s Media Office.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders condemned the killings of al-Ghoul and al-Rifi.
“Journalists are civilians and should never be targeted. Israel must explain why two more Tel Aviv Tribune journalists were killed in what appears to be a direct strike,” CPJ Executive Director Jodie Ginsberg said in a statement Wednesday.