Al Jazeera demands Israel immediately release correspondent
Al Jazeera Media Network has released the following statement about the beating and arrest of its journalist Ismail al-Ghoul, who was covering the siege of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City:
Today, Monday, 18 March 2024, Israeli occupation forces attacked Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Ismail Alghoul in Gaza whilst he was performing his journalistic duties. Following the attack, he was arrested, and the broadcast vehicle along with cameras and equipment was destroyed.
Al Jazeera Media Network demands the immediate release of its correspondent and the other journalists who were detained alongside him, and holds the occupation forces fully responsible for their safety.
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.
The Network emphasises that this targeting serves as an intimidation tactic against journalists to deter them from reporting the horrific crimes committed by the occupation forces against innocent civilians in Gaza.
The targeting of Ismail al-Ghoul is part of a series of systematic attacks on Al Jazeera by the occupation authorities, which included the assassination of Shireen Abu Akleh, Samer Abudaqa, and Hamza al-Dahdouh, the bombing of its office in Gaza, the deliberate targeting of a number of its journalists and their family members, and the arrest and intimidation of its crews.
Al Jazeera condemns the ongoing crimes committed by the Israeli occupation forces against journalists and media professionals in Gaza and renews its call for an immediate halt to these horrific attacks.
Ismail al-Ghou
IPI calls for detained Al Jazeera journalist’s ‘immediate release’
Scott Griffen, the deputy director of the International Press Institute (IPI), says the organisation is “deeply alarmed” by reports that Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul has been beaten and detained by Israeli forces inside al-Shifa Hospital.
“We’re calling for his immediate release and precise information about his wellbeing at this moment,” Grieffen told Al Jazeera. Al-Ghoul’s detention, he said, “lays bare the risks that all journalists” face in Gaza, as Israel has killed “scores” of them during the war with “almost no accountability”.
“This is not only threatening the lives of journalists who are on the ground trying to tell the story, but it is preventing audiences around the world from accessing the truth,” said Griffen.
As of today, at least 95 journalists and media workers – the overwhelming majority of them Palestinians – have been killed since the start of the war in October, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
CPJ condemns detention of Ismail al-Ghoul
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the detention of Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul and his team by the Israeli army at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
“Journalists play an essential role in a war. They are the eyes and the ears that we need to document what’s happening and with every journalist killed, with every journalist arrested, our ability to understand what’s happening in Gaza diminishes significantly,” Jodie Ginsberg, chief executive officer of the CPJ, told Al Jazeera. “This is the worst conflict for journalists that the Committee to Protect Journalists has ever documented, and the situation is simply getting worse.”
She added that the attacks on media vehicles and equipment at al-Shifa Hospital “looks like a deliberate attempt to prevent [the] assault on the hospital being documented” and that “there is a history of Israel targeting media facilities”.
Israeli forces have previously targeted Al Jazeera crews
This is a repeated violation being committed by the Israeli troops, who have previously targeted Al Jazeera crews.
Samer Abudaqa and Hamza al-Dahdouh have been killed, while several Al Jazeera journalists have been targeted while doing their jobs.
Right now, there are growing calls for the immediate release of Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul.
Press freedom group demands release of Al Jazeera correspondent
In a statement released on X, Reporters Without Borders, also known by its French name Reporters sans frontières (RSF), has called the arrest of Al Jazeera Arabic’s Ismail al-Ghoul “part of Israel’s ongoing crackdown on the press”.
“RSF demands the release of [Al Jazeera] correspondent Ismail a-Ghoul, arrested by the army at Al-Shifa hospital”, the statement reads, saying that he was beaten and his equipment destroyed.
#Gaza: RSF exige la libération du correspondant d'@AlJazeera Ismaeel Al Ghoul arrêté par l'armée 🇮🇱 à l'hôpital Al-Shifa. Il a été frappé, son matériel détruit. Cette attaque s'inscrit dans le cadre d'une répression continue d'Israël contre la presse 🇵🇸.
Cela doit cesser. pic.twitter.com/QiT2zNwvOF
— RSF (@RSF_inter) March 18, 2024
