Al Jazeera has alleged that a Gaza correspondent for the company has allegedly been “arrested and beaten” by the Israel Defense Force in Shifa hospital. The IDF has denied the claims.
Ismail al-Ghoul was with other journalists in the medical complex on Sunday night when it was stormed by IDF troops, according to Palestinian sources. Al-Ghoul’s colleagues claim he was “severely beaten and dragged.”
A reporter for the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera, the network released a statement in which they claimed the journalist was deliberately targeted and called for his immediate release.
The network claimed: “Ismail al-Ghoul was arrested this morning inside Al-Shifa Hospital along with a number of journalists while covering the Israeli occupation forces' attack on the hospital. According to eyewitnesses, Ismail was severely beaten and taken to an unknown location.”
According to a tweet from al-Ghoul’s colleagues, the correspondent worked on a television report during the night, “shortly before the Israeli occupation army stormed the Shifa Medical Complex.”
In one report, the Palestinian journalist could be seen speaking to a camera inside Shifa hospital, engulfed by smoke.
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Al Jazeera alleged a “broadcast vehicle” and cameras were destroyed during the arrest.
In October, Israeli officials claimed Al Jazeera had harmed national security with anti-Israel coverage of the war.
According to the IDF, today’s mission in Shifa hospital part of a targeted raid against Hamas operatives embedded there. A 20-year-old solider, Staff Sgt. Matan Vinogradov, was killed in the Israeli mission.
In a joint statement on Monday afternoon, the IDF and ISA announced that during the operation, troops killed Faiq Mabhuoch, head of the Operations Directorate of Hamas’ Internal Security. He was also responsible for coordinating terrorist activities in the Gaza Strip.
“Faiq Mabhouh was eliminated in an encounter with the troops while armed and hiding in a compound at the Shifa Hospital, from which he operated and advanced terrorist activity. Numerous weapons were located in the room adjacent to where he was eliminated,” according to the statement.
Some 80 terrorists were arrested during the operation, and Israeli special forces took full control of the hospital compound. Another soldier was lightly wounded during the raid.
Hamas forces fired on Israeli troops from within the hospital, according to the army. The terrorists used patients at the hospital as human shields.
The IDF said they were unaware of the detention of a man named Ismail al-Ghoul.
