UN rapporteur condemns Israeli ‘death sentence’ claim trying to silence last Gaza journalists

Pacific Media Watch

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, says Israel’s declaration that six Al Jazeera journalists are members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad “sounds like a death sentence”.

“These 6 Palestinians are among the last journalists surviving Israel’s onslaught in Gaza [with 130+ of their colleagues killed in the last year],” Albanese wrote on X. “They must be protected at all costs.”

Al Jazeera Media Network has strongly condemned the “unfounded’ accusations by Israel’s military, saying it views them “as a blatant attempt to silence the few remaining journalists in the region, thereby obscuring the harsh realities of the war from audiences worldwide”.

• WATCH: Gaza: Investigating war crimes in Gaza – Al Jazeera Investigations
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• Silencing the messenger: Israel kills journalists, while the West merely censors them

The network noted that Israeli forces in Gaza have killed more than 130 journalists and media workers in the past year, including several Al Jazeera journalists, “in an attempt to silence the messenger”.

URGENT! These 6 Palestinians are among the last journalists surviving Israel’s onslaught in Gaza (with 130+ of their colleagues killed in the last year). Declaring them “terrorists” sounds like a death sentence.
They must be protected at all cost. https://t.co/8AHQ0F4f4l

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) October 23, 2024

Al Jazeera has strongly rejected the Israeli military claim.

In a post on X, the Israeli military had accused some of the named Al Jazeera Arabic correspondents as “operatives” working for Hamas’s armed wing to promote the group’s “propaganda” in the besieged and bombarded enclave.

The six named journalists are Anas al-Sharif, Talal Aruki, Alaa Salama, Hosam Shabat, Ismail Farid, and Ashraf Saraj.

According to an Al Jazeera Network statement, the military published “documents” that it claimed proved the “integration of Hamas terrorists within” Al Jazeera. The military claimed the papers showed lists of people who have completed training courses and salaries.

‘Fabicated evidence’
“Al Jazeera categorically rejects the Israeli occupation forces’ portrayal of our journalists as terrorists and denounces their use of fabricated evidence,” the network said.

“The network views these fabricated accusations as a blatant attempt to silence the few remaining journalists in the region, thereby obscuring the harsh realities of the war from audiences worldwide,” the statement read.

Al Jazeera condemns Israeli accusations towards its journalists in Gaza and warns against being a justification for targeting them. pic.twitter.com/m0hu4TjY8h

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) October 23, 2024

It said the “baseless” accusations came following a recent report by Al Jazeera’s investigative unit that revealed potential war crimes committed by Israeli forces during the continuing assault on Gaza, where more than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed — many of them women and children.

Al Jazeera said its correspondents had been reporting from northern Gaza and documenting the dire humanitarian situation unfolding “as the sole international media” outlet there.

Israel has severely restricted access to Gaza for international media outlets since it launched its assault on the Palestinian territory on October 7, 2023, in response to a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.

Gaza: The Al Jazeera investigation into Israeli war crimes.

Northern Gaza has been under siege for 19 days as Israeli forces continue a renewed ground offensive in the area.

About 770 people have been killed in Jabalia since the renewed assault began, according to the Gaza Government Media Office, with Israel blocking the entry of aid and food from reaching some 400,000 people trapped in the area.

‘Wider pattern of hostility’
“The network sees these accusations as part of a wider pattern of hostility towards Al Jazeera, stemming from its unwavering commitment to broadcasting the unvarnished truth about the situation in Gaza and elsewhere.”

Last month, Israeli forces raided Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank and ordered its immediate closure following the decision by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet in May 2024 to shut down Al Jazeera’s operations within Israel.

Israeli forces have killed at least three Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza since October last year.

In July, Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Ismail al-Ghoul and his cameraman Rami al-Rifi were killed in an Israeli air attack on the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City. The pair were wearing media vests and there were identifying signs on their vehicle when they were attacked.

In December, Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Samer Abudaqa was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis. Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief, Wael Dahdouh, was also wounded in that attack.

Dadouh’s wife, son, daughter and grandson had been killed in an Israeli air raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp in October last year.

In January, Dahdouh’s son, Hamza, who was also an Al Jazeera journalist, was killed in an Israeli missile strike in Khan Younis.

Prior to the war on Gaza, veteran Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead by Israeli forces as she covered an Israeli raid in Jenin in the West Bank in May 2022.

Republished from Al Jazeera.