War Desk, Delhi Magazine: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has accused Hamas of manipulating the media coverage of Al Jazeera to serve its own interests, claiming that the Qatari broadcaster has been concealing critical information from the public. In a social media post, the IDF warned that “Hamas controls Al Jazeera’s media coverage to serve its own interests, preventing the public in Gaza and around the world from learning the truth about its crimes against civilians in Gaza. Think twice before using Al Jazeera as a reliable source.”
Hamas directs Al Jazeera’s media coverage to serve its own interests, preventing the public in Gaza and around the world from discovering the truth about its crimes against Gazan civilians.
Think twice before using Al Jazeera as a “reliable” source. pic.twitter.com/F28FoY4V8W
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 24, 2024
The IDF’s statement was supported by documents in Arabic, allegedly from 2022, which revealed that Hamas provided specific instructions to Al Jazeera on how to handle a failed operation by Islamic Jihad. The documents claim that a missile launched by Islamic Jihad mistakenly hit the Jabalia area, killing several civilians. Hamas allegedly directed the broadcaster to avoid highlighting the incident, downplay coverage, and refrain from using terms such as “massacre” when discussing the event.
Further escalating tensions, Israel on Wednesday accused six Al Jazeera journalists of acting as “agents of the military wing” of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The IDF claimed it had found documents that linked these journalists to Palestinian militias, further fueling the ongoing media war between the two sides.
In response, Al Jazeera has accused Israel of blocking the “urgent medical evacuation” of two of its journalists who were seriously injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza two weeks ago. Al Jazeera has been banned from operating in Israel since April, when the Israeli government declared the network a “danger to national security.”
The conflict between Israel and the Qatari broadcaster has intensified in recent months. On September 22, Israeli authorities ordered the closure of Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank. This followed a raid in which Israeli soldiers reportedly seized and destroyed equipment at the broadcaster’s premises.
The allegations against Al Jazeera and its journalists are part of a broader media battle between Israel and Hamas, with both sides accusing each other of manipulating the flow of information during the ongoing conflict.