IDF: Two Al Jazeera Journalists Operated Drones Against The Israeli Army Before Their Deaths

The two Al Jazeera journalists killed in one of the Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip on Sunday were "terrorist operatives" linked to the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad, the Israeli military said, quoted by AFP.

Hamza Dahdouh and Mustafa Turaya, who worked as video journalists for several international media outlets, were killed Sunday when their vehicle was hit in the southern Palestinian territory while working for the Qatari media.

"Prior to the strike, the two were operating drones that posed an immediate threat to Israeli troops," the army said in a statement.

Asked by AFP about the type of drones used and the nature of the threat, the Israeli military said it would look into the matter. But "military intelligence has confirmed that the two dead were members of terrorist organizations based in Gaza and were actively involved in attacks against Israeli forces," the text said.

So far, there has been no reaction from the families of the two men and Qatar's Al Jazeera television.

The Israeli military said Turaya was "a member of the Hamas Brigade in Gaza City, a deputy squadron commander in the Al-Qadisiya Battalion." Hamza Wael al-Dahdouh was described as an "Islamic Jihad terrorist who was involved in in the organization's terrorist activities".

"Documents found by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip testify to his role in the electronic engineering unit of Islamic Jihad, as well as his previous role as deputy commander" of a unit responsible for rockets in the Zeytoun battalion, the indicates in the text.

The army attached to its document a list of "employees" of the engineering unit, in which Hamza Dahdouh's name is mentioned.

In a brief statement overnight, Hamas described the accusations "against these two journalists" as "hollow" and "false". After their deaths, Al Jazeera "strongly condemned the strike by the Israeli occupation forces on the car of the Palestinian journalists" and accused Israel of "violating the principles of freedom of the press".

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described the death of the two journalists as an "unimaginable tragedy", recalls AFP.

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