Israel assaults and detains Al Jazeera crew, then destroys their broadcasting equipment

The Israeli military has assaulted and detained Al Jazeera correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul and his crew. They also destroyed Al Jazeera broadcasting vehicles. With tanks and heavy gunfire, Israeli forces raided the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City where al-Ghoul was sheltering.

Al Jazeera: targeted by Israel

Al-Ghoul was documenting Israel’s in-motion genocide against the Palestinians. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) found it to be “plausible” that Israel is committing genocide.

Now Israel is continuing to shut down journalists for reporting its crimes. Israel has banned most journalists from entering Gaza, leaving reporting mainly to Palestinians already on the ground.

During the raid, Israel killed and injured a number of Palestinians. The military also detained over 80 people including medical staff.

Palestinian journalist Wadea Abu Alsoud, who Israel trapped inside the hospital, reported:

We’re now besieged inside al-Shifa Hospital. We’re being heavily shot at. The occupation suddenly raided the hospital and its vicinity… there are intense clashes in the vicinity of al-Shifa Hospital. We’re hearing sounds coming from the gate. There is shrapnel falling over the hospital’s yard.

Journalism and healthcare under attack

The hospital raid demonstrates Israel’s barbaric treatment of journalists, medical staff, and citizens. Since the violence escalated on 7 October, Israel has killed at least 90 Palestinian journalists and media workers.

The coloniser state has bombed and attacked hospitals, with hundreds of attacks on healthcare services. Targetting civilian infrastructure is also an international war crime.

Israel has attacked Al Jazeera before. Its military assassinations of Al Jazeera journalists include correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 2022. And in 2021, Israel bombed the media offices of Al Jazeera and the Associated Press.

Al Jazeera tends to have more balanced coverage of Palestine and Israel than the Western mainstream media. The media outlet has demanded Israel release al-Ghoul.

Colonising Palestine

The Israeli attack on Palestine goes back long before the recent escalation. Israel has colonised Palestine since 1948 through displacement and mass murder. They initially took 78% of Palestine and renamed it Israel.

Now, with Hamas as the pretext, the colonisation entered its next stage following 7 October. Since then, Israel has displaced 85% (1.9 million) of the population of Gaza and killed at least another 31,000, mainly women and children.

It looks like they are forcing the population of Gaza out of the way to further the occupation.

With the help of pro-Israel Western media backers, the colonisers are massacring Palestinians, the doctors healing them, and now even the journalists reporting what’s happening. We must hold them to account.

Featured image via Al Jazeera English – YouTube