Tel Aviv, Israel

The Israel Defence Forces said on Wednesday (Oct 23) that they have uncovered documents in the Gaza Strip that reveal six Al Jazeera journalists being operatives of the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups, reported The Times of Israel. 

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The IDF identified the six journalists as Anas al-Sharif, Alaa Salameh, Hossam Shabat, Ashraf al-Sarraj, Ismail Abu Omar, and Talal al-Arrouqi.

Al-Sharif was the head of a rocket launching squad and a member of a Nukhba Force company in Hamas’s Nuseirat Battalion. Meanwhile, Salameh was the deputy head of the Shaboura Battalion’s propaganda unit. 

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Shabat was a sniper in Hamas’s Beit Hanoun Battalion; al-Sarraj was a member of Islamic Jihad’s Bureij Battalion; Abu Omar served as a training company commander in the East Khan Younis Battalion; and al-Arrouqi was a team commander in Hamas’s Nuseirat Battalion.

The IDF released the documents, saying that they showed personnel spreadsheets and lists of training courses, telephone books, and salary documents. 

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The document further "unequivocally proves” that the journalists functioned as members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s respective military wings.

“These documents are proof of the involvement of Hamas terrorists in the Qatari media network, Al-Jazeera,” the IDF says in a statement.

They added that the named journalists are "spearheading" the spread of Hamas propaganda on Al Jazeera, especially in the northern Gaza Strip. 

Earlier in January, Israel had said that an Al Jazeera staff journalist and a freelancer killed in an airstrike in Gaza were actually terror operatives. 

Next month, they accused another Al Jazeera journalist, who was wounded in a separate strike, of actually being a deputy company commander with Hamas.

However, Al Jazeera has fiercely denied Israel's allegations and accused it of systematically targeting Al Jazeera employees in the Gaza Strip.

Disclaimer: WION takes the utmost care to accurately and responsibly report conflicts in West Asia involving Israel, Iran, Syria, Iraq, and non-state actors like the Islamic State, among others. In this context, claims and counterclaims are being made online and offline. WION cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, social media posts, photos, and videos.

(With inputs from agencies)