Israel says Al Jazeera journalist injured in an airstrike is a Hamas commander

The Israeli army said on Wednesday that the Al Jazeera journalist who was injured in an airstrike in Gaza on October 7 was a member of Hamas and had recorded himself at a kibbutz.

Ismail Abu Omar, an Arabic language reporter, and Ahmad Matar, his cameraman, were both critically hurt north of Rafah and taken to a hospital for treatment, according to a report released by the broadcaster on Tuesday.

Omar, however, was identified by the Israeli military as “a deputy company commander in Hamas’s Eastern Battalion of Khan Yunis”.

“Abu Omar even filmed himself in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7th massacre and published it on social media platforms,” said a statement.

The Qatar-based television network has not yet responded to the latest accusation.

But on Tuesday it criticised the Israeli military for deliberately targeting its employees as they reported on the plight of civilians caught up in the war with Hamas.

The network said the strike was a “fully fledged crime which adds to Israel’s crime against journalists” and was aimed at preventing reporters covering the war.

Abu Omar’s right leg was blown off in the drone strike, while doctors were trying to save the left one, Al Jazeera said, quoting an emergency physician.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has recorded the deaths of at least 85 journalists and media workers — 78 of them Palestinian — since the war erupted on October 7.

(with inputs from AFP)