Journalist at Al Jazeera and Hamas Commander

Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based news network, has vehemently denied accusations made by the Israeli military that one of its journalists injured in a Gaza strike is a member of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Al Jazeera condemned the accusations leveled against its journalists and highlighted Israel's history of fabricating evidence to conceal its egregious crimes.

According to Al Jazeera, its correspondent Ismaïl Abou Omar and cameraman Ahmed Matar were wounded on Tuesday by an Israeli airstrike in the Rafah area of southern Gaza.

However, the Israeli military claims that Ismaïl Abou Omar "is the deputy commander of a company within Hamas' eastern battalion in Khan Younis," a city close to Rafah.

The military further alleged that "Abou Omar even filmed himself at the Nir Oz kibbutz during the massacre on October 7 and posted [the video] on social media," referring to the Hamas-led bloody attack on southern Israel on October 7, which sparked the conflict.

According to independent sources obtained by Mena Today, Ismaïl Abou Omar has indeed been an active member of Hamas for several years. His official activity as a journalist allowed him to collect sensitive information that was then transmitted to the Islamist movement.

Al Jazeera supports Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The channel is funded by Qatar.