Ismail al-Ghoul's killing: targeted and discredited, Palestinian journalists suffer double punishment in Gaza

When questioned about targeting journalists, the Israeli army usually replies that these accusations “are false,” despite mounting evidence to the contrary. Yet the day after their attack on Ismail al-Ghoul’s car, the army took responsibility for killing the 27-year-old, stating on X (formerly Twitter) that it had eliminated a “terrorist” and “journalist.” Since then, the IDF’s official position has consisted of accusations discrediting al-Ghoul – without mentioning his cameraman Rami al-Rifi, who was also killed in the attack – based on insufficient, questionable evidence, according to RSF’s analysis.

The IDF identified al-Ghoul as a member of the military wing of Hamas, the militant Palestinian group governing the Gaza strip, claiming he was a “terrorist” working for Nukhba, Hamas’ elite unit. The IDF alleges that took part in Hamas’ attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. To back up these claims, the IDF publicly released a screenshot of a list of names that dates to 2021 and was “found on Hamas computers seized in the Gaza Strip,” according to their official statement. The IDF claims this document shows that, in 2021, “Mr. al-Ghoul was an engineer in the Hamas Gaza brigade.” When RSF asked for more details on the origins of this document, the IDF merely reiterated that the computer had been found in the Gaza Strip. When asked about al-Ghoul's role in “disseminating attacks against Tsahal [IDF] troops,” the IDF replied that this was intelligence information. Nonetheless, the IDF continued to accuse al-Ghoul of participating in the attack on 7 October without providing any proof, merely stating that if someone is a member of Hamas’ military wing, they are a legitimate target even if they are also a journalist for Al Jazeera.

Without sufficient evidence for these accusations, the deliberate strike on al-Ghoul’s car is “an obvious war crime,” according to Rafaëlle Maison, a law professor at the University of Paris XI who specialises in international criminal justice. "Even if this journalist had been an engineer for Hamas in 2021, it does not justify targeting him three years later. This document is clearly insufficient evidence for targeting him, as he was sporting the gear designed to protect journalists and was clearly engaged in journalistic activity," she explained. According to the Geneva Convention, al-Ghoul would have lost his rights to protection as a civilian and, more specifically, as a journalist, if he “took a direct part in hostilities during that period, which is clearly not the case,” said Maison.

Ismail al-Ghoul, Palestinian correspondent for the Qatari channel Al Jazeera since November 2023, was one of the few journalists still present in the north of the Gaza Strip, which is inaccessible to foreign journalists. On 31 July, al-Ghoul had just finished a live report from outside the house of Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader assassinated earlier that day in Tehran, when he contacted Al Jazeera’s editorial team to inform them that he and al-Rifi were evacuating the area as they’d heard a bombardment nearby, according to Raed Fakih, manager of input for Al Jazeera’s news directorate. After several minutes without any news, the channel tried to contact al-Ghoul without success. “Our other correspondent, Anas al-Sharif, reported that there were rumours Ismail had been targeted,” Fakih told RSF.

In a video of the strike posted on social media, the panicked cries of freelance journalist Osama al-Ashi can be heard echoing down the street. Al-Ashi runs towards a smoking car where people begin to gather. "I knew it was Ismail. I know his jacket and car by heart,” al-Ashi told RSF. The camera then shows the inside of the vehicle, where the bodies of Ismail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Rifi are unrecognisable, decapitated by the force of the impact. Yet al-Ghoul’s blue jacket bearing the word “press” is clearly visible.

Numerous inconsistencies

A number of inconsistencies in the IDF’s allegations, made the day following the attack, were quickly pointed out. Firstly, Fakih notes that al-Ghoul was held and interrogated for 12 hours in March 2024. Al-Ghoul reported that his arresting officer called him by name, “making it clear that they knew they had arrested Ismail al-Ghoul,” argued Fakih. “If he were indeed a terrorist, as they claim, why would they release him?” When questioned about these events, the Israeli army denied the facts and stated that al-Ghoul had never been arrested.

What’s more, according to the IDF’s screenshot of the list of names, al-Ghoul received a military rank on 1 July 2007, when he was 10 years old. Strangely, another column on the list shows that he was recruited in 2014. When asked about this, the Israeli army said it was not responsible for the inconsistencies in a Hamas document. According to Fakih, “The document also contradicts the initial claim that he was part of an elite force and states that he was part of the engineering group. A minor who is an engineer? But, anyway, was he a member of the elite force or an engineer at the age of 16-17?"

Two political and academic experts on Hamas – who wish to remain anonymous – stressed to RSF that it seems unlikely for Ismail al-Ghoul to have been recruited at such a young age, even if he had joined the group in 2014. One expert explained that, while the movement created summer camps in the past, “I don't believe that is a kind of recruitment or that you would become a member of Hamas.” Joining an elite unit like the Nukhba involves several years of training and tests, and recruitment usually takes place around the age of 20, the two experts added.

As for the document's authenticity, one of the experts stated they had never seen a similar list in the history of their research on Hamas. This does not mean that no such documents exist, yet all the experts interviewed by RSF for this article shared the same conclusion: the document could be genuine but, without further details or contextual elements, these accusations are highly uncertain. “When such documents are released with claims of membership in Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, etc., we seldom receive the entire document [...] or other types of documentation to corroborate and so on. In other words, we have to chose taking Israeli claims and alleged evidence at face value,” one expert explained.

Irene Khan, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, strongly condemned the attack and the charge brought against al-Ghoul. “The Israeli military seems to be making accusations without any substantive evidence as a licence to kill journalists, which is in total contravention of international humanitarian law,” she said in a statement published on 6 August.

Recurring accusations

This is not the first time Israel has published poorly substantiated documents to justify the targeted killings of journalists. In January 2024, after the deaths of Hamza al-Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya – journalists for Al Jazeera who were killed when a drone attack targeted their vehicle while they were working in Rafah – the Israeli army claimed the reporters were affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIF) and Hamas, respectively.

As in the case of al-Ghoul, Israel did not provide any further details about the document incriminating al-Dahdouh, and did not release the document incriminating Thuraya. “It's a pattern with the Israelis that, after targeting our journalists, they release conflicting accounts and make baseless accusations to justify their unjustifiable actions — killing journalists who are working to cover the realities on the ground. This was the case with Shireen Abu Akleh, Samer Abu Daqqa and Hamza al-Dahdouh,” said Fakih.

More recently, Anas al-Sharif, another Al Jazeera correspondent who was close to al-Ghoul, - was condemned by an IDF spokesperson, who used the familiar claim that the Al Jazeera reporter was both a “journalist” and a “terrorist.” On 10 August, on X, in the wake of the strike against the Tabi'een school in central Gaza that killed at least 80 people, the spokesperson accused al-Sharif of “covering up the crimes of Hamas and jihad terrorists hiding in schools,” and that al-Sharif “probably knew many of the people killed in this school.” Al Jazeera strongly condemned these accusations against its journalists.

Al Jazeera has brought these cases to international courts, and hopes “to obtain justice, reveal the truth, and ensure protection,” according to Fakih. As no international media can access Gaza to cover the war, Al Jazeera is all the more determined to demand justice for the journalists who live and work there but cannot leave. “At this point, we can only strive to push Israel to adhere to its moral and legal obligations regarding the principle of press freedom and the protection of journalists,” said Fakih.

RSF has filed three complaints with the International Criminal Court (ICC) calling for investigations into crimes committed against Palestinian journalists. In a statement to RSF dated 5 January 2024, the ICC Prosecutor's Office assured RSF that "crimes against journalists are being examined by the Prosecutor's Office, among other potential crimes, as part of the ongoing investigation into the situation in the State of Palestine, and RSF's objectives and actions must be supported and are of crucial importance in Gaza and elsewhere. Journalists are protected by international humanitarian law and the Rome Statute and must not under any circumstances be targeted in the exercise of their important mission.”

To date, more than 130 media professionals have been killed by the Israeli army in Gaza since 7 October; at least 31 were killed while doing their job.