Al Jazeera rejects Israeli claim Gaza cameraman was Hamas operative, calling it baseless accusations

Gaza/ Doha: Al Jazeera strongly rejected Israeli military allegations that cameraman Ahmed Wishah had been a sniper operative in Hamas' military wing while also working as a photojournalist for the broadcaster, who was killed on Saturday. The broadcaster accused Israel of attempting to justify attacks on journalists working in the Palestinian territory.

The Qatar-based broadcaster said on Sunday cameraman Ahmed Wishah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Saturday that struck a house in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, while his brother, Mohammed Wishah was also killed in Israeli shelling in April. Mohammed also worked for Al Jazeera.

In a statement issued a day after his death, the network rejected the claims and described as "baseless accusations" against its staff. Calling it an Israeli campaign to discredit Al Jazeera journalists reporting from the war-torn enclave, the statement noted that the Israeli military did not provide any evidence, publicly to support their claim.

Footages from Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah showed relatives, colleagues and friends gathering to bid farewell to Wishah.

AL Jazeera quoted Bilal Abu Samak, a freelance journalist working in Gaza who said, "For the first time, I found myself unable to film." Samak also alleged that journalists covering events on the ground were being deliberately targeted.

Israel has repeatedly denied intentionally targeting journalists. Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, reported that more than 220 journalists have been killed since the start of the war in Gaza, noting that at least 70 of those deaths occurred while the journalists were carrying out their professional duties.