According to witnesses, the car was hit by two rockets on a street in Rafah, southern Gaza. Three days after that attack, in which journalists Hamza Al-Dahdouh and Moustafa Thuraya were killed, the Israeli army confirmed on Wednesday, January 10, that the two men, who were then working for the Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera, were identified as ” “terrorist agents” have been identified with ties to the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad.
“Before the attack, the two were piloting drones that posed an immediate threat to Israeli troops,” the army said in a statement. When asked by Agence France-Presse (AFP) about the type of drones used and the nature of this threat, the Israeli army replied late in the evening that it would examine this point.
“Military intelligence confirmed that the two deceased were members of terrorist organizations based in the Gaza Strip and were actively involved in attacks against Israeli forces,” it said.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Wael Al-Dahdouh, reporter at Al-Jazeera: the voice of the damned of Gaza
The families of the two men and the Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera did not respond late on Wednesday evening. In addition to the two men, a third journalist and the driver of the vehicle were injured in this Israeli attack.
Documents found in the Gaza Strip
30-year-old Moustafa Thuraya has been working as an occasional freelancer with Agence France-Presse (AFP) and other international media since 2019. Hamza Al-Dahdouh was the son of Wael Al-Dahdouh, the head of Al-Jazeera's office in Gaza and a figure in the community of Palestinian journalists in the enclave, who lost his wife and two other children in a bomb attack in late October 2023. He also lost two his nephews were killed in a strike.
The Israeli army describes Moustafa Thuraya as “a member of the Hamas Brigade in Gaza City, deputy squadron commander in the Al-Qadisiyah Battalion.”
Hamza Al-Dahdouh is described as an “Islamic Jihad terrorist who was involved in the organization's terrorist activities.” “Documents found by the Israeli military in Gaza reveal his role in Islamic Jihad’s electronics unit, as well as his previous role as deputy commander” of the Gaza rocket cell. “Zeitun Battalion,” the text says.
The army attaches to its document a list presented as “agents” of the technical unit and in which the name of Hamza Al-Dahdouh is mentioned.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers The Israel-Hamas war from the perspective of Al-Jazeera, an almost unique window of expression for the Palestinians in Gaza
Following the deaths of its two journalists, Al-Jazeera “strongly condemned the Israeli occupation forces' attacks on the Palestinian journalists' car” and accused Israel of “violating the principles of press freedom.” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described the deaths of the two journalists as an “unimaginable tragedy”.
The world application
The morning of the world
Every morning, discover our selection of 20 items not to be missed
Download the app
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 79 journalists and media workers have been killed since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, the vast majority Palestinians.
Also read: Israel-Hamas war: What to remember from January 10