24 journalists and staff members have been fired by Aljazeera who worked for the network in the Gaza Strip, amid a lawsuit filed in the United States accusing the Qatari broadcaster of providing support to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Ynet reported on Friday.
MOUTHPIECE NIGERIA gathered that the lawsuit was filed in February 2025 by the NGO and civil rights group Shurat HaDin, with support from the pro-Israel advocacy group StandWithUs.
It names the employees and alleges that some Al Jazeera staff had ties to terrorist organisations and, in some cases, were members of those groups.
In a statement on June 25, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it had removed 20 names from its database after confirming that those individuals had worked for Hamas or PIJ.
The review followed Israeli media reports identifying several individuals previously listed as journalists by international organisations as having ties to Hamas or PIJ.
“CPJ has always been clear that we do not include anyone in our data sets if there is evidence that they were engaging in combat or inciting imminent violence,” CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg said in the statement.
“This is consistent with international humanitarian law, which considers journalists affiliated with non-state actors to be civilians, provided they do not directly participate in hostilities.”
According to CPJ, the organisation uses at least two independent sources, desk-based research and, where possible, in-person reporting before adding an individual to its database as a journalist or media worker.
CPJ said in-person verification by researchers outside Gaza has not been possible since the beginning of the war because Israel has not allowed international correspondents access to the territory.
The organisation has petitioned the Israeli government and the Supreme Court to reverse the restrictions preventing foreign journalists from entering Gaza.
“CPJ condemns in no uncertain terms the misrepresentation of combatants as journalists or media workers, or the misuse of ‘Press’ insignia.
“Such actions endanger every single individual journalist legitimately trying to report. We are conducting a full review of the names on our lists to confirm that no one who was actively engaged in combat is listed in our data.”
