On 7th January, two Al Jazeera journalists named Hamza al-Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuria were eliminated in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have now revealed that both the journalists were associated with Hamas.
According to the IDF, an Israeli aircraft directed by troops targeted the operators of a drone which was posing threat to IDF soldiers near Rafah. The operators were later identified as Hamza al-Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuria.
Confirmed: journalists Hamza al-Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuria were members of Gaza-based terrorist organizations.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) January 10, 2024
On Jan 7, an IAF aircraft directed by troops targeted the operators of a drone, posing a threat to our soldiers near Rafah. The operators were later identified as… pic.twitter.com/JeYWwhJk9j
The IDF claims that the documents found by its troops in Gaza revealed that Thuria worked as Squad Deputy Commander in Hamas’s Gaza City Brigade and al-Dahdouh’s role in the electronic engineering unit of terrorist group Islamic Jihad.
Al-Dahdouh had also served as deputy commander in Islamic Jihad’s Zeitun Battalion. As per reports, the two journalists worked as stringers for AFP and other news organisations.
Reports say that the two were on assignment when they were killed whereas Hamza al-Dahdouh’s father, Wael al-Dahdouh also works for Al Jazeera as chief correspondent.
According to reports, IDF presented a document in Arabic which listed Hamza as a dual-hate terrorist-journalist for Islamic Jihad. He was reportedly responsible for recently firing the Islamic Jihad rockets in the area.
IDF Chief Spokesman Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari said the IDF had found documents which linked
Thuria to Hamas too. Both were reportedly involved in activating drones endangering the Israeli forces.
