BETHLEHEM – Ma’an – On the afternoon of January 22, 2024, four journalists, Anas al-Sharif, Mahmoud Shalha, Imad al-Ghaboun and Mahmoud Sabah – who are among the few remaining journalists in the area – were continuing their work covering the famine that has swept through Gaza since the start of the Israeli offensive in October 2023, following Hamas attacks on the Gaza envelope cities. In search of a high place that would allow them to connect to the internet, to send some video clips to their editors, the four climbed a small hill in Tel al-Zaatar in the northern Gaza Strip, but an explosion occurred and they were thrown to the ground.
Wearing a press jacket, Al-Sharif – who suffered minor back injuries – broke through a cloud of smoke, trying to rescue his colleagues lying under the blood-stained rubble. Loaded onto a bulldozer, the Gabon was taken to a nearby hospital. While a civilian was killed in the same attack.
The four journalists say they were targeted by a ‘drone’; This is confirmed by experts by
analyzing the video clip that Al-Sharif took following the attack.
Over the course of four months, the Forbidden Stories consortium, in cooperation with 50 journalists, investigated the injury and killing of more than a hundred media personnel in Gaza, at the hands of the Israeli army, since October 7, 2023. The results indicate What we found was that at least 18 of these crews were targeted by targeted strikes, likely carried out using drones, in violation of the laws of war. This is in contrast to the Israeli army’s claims that it did not “deliberately target journalists.” At least four journalists (among the 20 killed) were wearing press jackets. The Tal al-Zaatar incident is one example of the Israeli army’s apparent pattern of targeting journalists.
Under international humanitarian law, also known as the ‘law of armed conflict,’ intentionally targeting civilians; including journalists, constitutes a war crime. Armies must distinguish between combatants and others, and direct strikes only against milita
ry targets. Even when the military objective is legitimate, a military attack must not cause excessive civilian loss, injury or damage in relation to the expected military gain.
Experts agree that drones have the technological capabilities necessary to reduce human casualties, which raises a fundamental question: How were so many journalists killed by drones? According to the analysis of Israeli military expert Dr. Liran Entebbe, published in 2022, drones were able to implement the ‘immediate cancellation’ of air strikes, which endangered the lives of civilians, during the Israeli military operation in Gaza in 2021, which lasted 12 days.
Former US Air Force Sergeant Brandon Bryant says that the drones carry smaller explosives than military aircraft, and can hit a precise target, ‘located within one foot of where we shine the laser.’ A French drone expert told Forbidden Stories: ‘You can detect the target and avoid the violent reaction that would accompany the bombing of a large number of civilians.’
But jo
urnalist Anas Al-Sharif confirms that something exploded that day, in the middle of the press group’s location in Tal Al-Zaatar. After analyzing the footage of ‘Forbidden Stories’, Brandon Bryant confirmed that the buzzing sound, in journalist Mahmoud Sabah’s video, ‘is the sound of a drone,’ adding: ‘I can never forget this sound.’
More precisely, Bryant asserted that it was ‘a slow, low-flying, propeller-powered drone.’ A German drone expert who spoke to Forbidden Stories on the condition of anonymity agrees with this result, saying: ‘The sound heard in the background (background of the video) matches one of the drones that use piston engines, or turbofan engines.’
The “Forbidden Stories” consortium worked with the audio research agency “Earshot” to conduct an audio analysis of the videos collected by the consortium, and the results concluded that the Israeli army is currently using both helicopters and turboprops in Gaza. To carry out reconnaissance and combat operations.
Former US Air Force Sergeant, B
randon Bryant, added to Forbidden Stories that the effects of the explosion indicate the use of a low-impact missile, which is usually carried by drones, explaining: ‘If they dropped bombs from military aircraft or F-16s, they would have eliminated these people.’ There were no survivors; I will not say that I am 100 percent sure that a drone carried out the strike, but I am 98 percent sure.’ (According to information collected by Forbidden Stories from open sources, the surrounding infrastructure was destroyed before the strike was carried out, which means ruling out the possibility that the missile was targeting nearby buildings.)
(The Israeli army spokesman said that he was not aware of any strikes launched on these coordinates in January 2024.)
‘The Israeli army is verifying the identity of those it is targeting.’
While some experts praise the precision of drones, others say that their ability to hit precise targets does not necessarily mean hitting a legitimate or equal target. This is confirmed by Jam
es Rogers, an expert in drone technology at Cornell University in the United States, who says: ‘Precision may mean the ability to avoid targeting civilians, but it may also mean the ability to target them; targeting precision only means ensuring the destruction of the target,’ adding: ‘We live in a world where drones are increasingly used by state and non-state actors; some want to reduce the costs of war, and others want to maximize the damage.’
Signals (phone signals) are an essential part of the mechanism for identifying drone targets; according to experts, internet connections can be intercepted, revealing a person’s location. Drone strikes often target cell phones. Khalil Diwan, a lawyer and researcher in drone warfare, explained that ‘the use of drones in wars depends on signal capture and communications infrastructure; therefore, the Israeli army knows in advance the identity of the targets it is striking.’ ‘So cell phones, SIM cards, some social media apps with location settings, live streaming – all
of that makes a person a potential target for a drone,’ Diwan added.
Like humans, with senses like hearing, sight and smell, drones have sensors and a wireless link that relays the collected data to a ground station that identifies the target. Using infrared cameras and electro-optical sensors, the target is visually confirmed, provided the weather conditions are favorable or the drone is flying low enough.
Bryant, who used to operate the now-retired MQ-1B Predator, said the vision was already clear in early 2010. ‘While you can’t make out facial details, we’ve been able to get close enough to see details of clothing,’ he said. The camera’s resolution has increased since then, Bryant said. ‘You can see the size of the person, and you can tell if they are male or female, fat or thin, by the way they walk,’ said an Israeli military source who has operated drones.
In some IDF drones, the visibility is clear enough that operators can see a press vest, experts told Forbidden Stories. ‘It is inconceivable that a
drone operator would receive permission to shoot at someone who is clearly wearing a press badge and who is not taking part in any hostilities,’ said Asa Kasher, who drafted the IDF’s code of ethics in 1994.
“I’m sure he was filming until the end.”
On December 15, 2023, Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa, a 45-year-old father of four, was filming the devastation in central Khan Younis with his friend and colleague Wael Dahdouh, one of Gaza’s most respected journalists, and the civil defense team-the paramedic unit-and firefighters.
After completing their reporting assignment, and on their way to the team’s vehicles, they were targeted by a drone strike, even though they were wearing their press vests. ‘Something big happened, it knocked me to the ground… I gathered my strength and could barely stand. I felt dizzy, and I expected a second missile to fall at any moment,’ Dahdouh told Al Jazeera from his hospital bed,
despite blood pouring from his right arm. Dahdouh managed to reach the civil defense vehi
cles, which were stationed hundreds of meters away. He saw three members of the civil defense team dead. A little further away, Abu Daqqa was still alive, but lying wounded on the ground. ‘I asked the paramedics to return to Samer, but they said they had to leave immediately and send another car so they wouldn’t be targeted,’ Dahdouh told Al Jazeera. Drones were hovering around them, Dahdouh added.
After preventing ambulances from reaching Abu Daqqa for more than five hours, rescuers finally arrived at the site, but found nothing but his jacket. ‘For us, this is proof that he didn’t die immediately after the incident. He took off his jacket because it was too heavy,’ said Bilal Hamdan, a paramedic. After 30 minutes of searching, ‘a colleague found Samer Abu Daqqa’s body torn to pieces, next to his camera,’ Hamdan said. From this scene, rescuers from the civil defense concluded that he had been hit by at least two blows.
‘I’m sure he was filming when the first explosion happened,’ said Samer’s colleague and
friend, Ibrahim Qanan, adding that his camera was completely destroyed in the attack. (An Israeli military spokesman said Abu Daqqa’s case was being reviewed internally.)
Al Jazeera confirmed that it had filed a request with the International Criminal Court to investigate Abu Daqqa for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity. Attorney Rodney Dixon insisted that ‘he saw no military necessity for targeting the group, which indicates that it was a deliberate targeting of journalists.’
(Forbidden Stories contacted the Israeli military, which did not provide any information about the combatants targeted that day, nor what military gains it made from carrying out the immediate strike.)
“asymmetric response strategy”
According to lawyer and researcher Khalil Diwan, the Israeli army’s use of drones in war is very disturbing, adding: ‘The distinction between civilians and combatants is a legal obligation… and while the Israeli army claims to be the most committed to ethical standards in the world, this c
laim is subject to doubt and question. ‘Given the massive losses among civilians, according to media reports.’
According to a French expert specializing in artificial intelligence and military technology, who requested anonymity, the Israeli army possesses all the technological and military capabilities that would avoid expanding the circle of destruction when targeted. Which he did several times before. This is the conclusion reached by Forbidden Stories, supported by the opinion of several drone experts.
The French expert added to Forbidden Stories: ‘But at the present time, there is no political will to do this. On the contrary, the current political will is implementing a strategy of asymmetric response.’
As revealed by ‘972+’ magazine, the Israeli army has expanded its powers to bomb non-military targets, and eased restrictions on civilian casualties since October 2023, in addition to using several artificial intelligence systems to generate targets. ‘Lavender,’ an artificial intelligence-based progra
m, was used to generate a kill list of more than 37,000 people. This list served as the initial blueprint upon which – along with other data – drones have carried out combat operations since October 7. October, according to the findings of the Forbidden Stories Consortium.
The “+972” and “Local Call” reports concluded that Lavender’s method of identifying assassination targets, based on certain characteristics, classifies almost all Gazans as armed. According to a book written by the head of Israeli Intelligence Unit 8200, who pioneered the military’s use of artificial intelligence, being in a WhatsApp group with a known gunman, and frequently changing cell phones and addresses; It may be among the characteristics that Lavender relies on in generating the hit list.
An intelligence source affiliated with the Israeli army – who requested anonymity – told Forbidden Stories that there was a possibility of a mistake in identifying the journalists as Hamas fighters. The source added that in one case, ‘the journal
ist was almost killed’ as a result of a mistake in identifying him. Several other sources said they were not aware if the Israeli military had a list of names of Palestinian journalists in Gaza to screen and redact the names that appear on the AI-generated kill lists.
Another source in the Israeli army told the Forbidden Stories Union: ‘There are journalists who talk a lot with Hamas officials or fighters, and it is possible that one of the journalists in Gaza is in Hamas’ WhatsApp groups and is contacting them. Therefore, it is logical for him to be classified as Lavender (a system for identifying… Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters) is a Hamas fighter.’
The source also confirmed that the Israeli army does not have a list that includes the names of journalists in Gaza, to ensure that their names are not included in artificial intelligence-generated kill lists. ‘There is nothing like that, which surprises me,’ the source added.
Such errors have occurred in the past; In early 2010, a leaked document from th
e US National Security Agency revealed that the US government had made a mistake in classifying the head of Al Jazeera’s Islamabad bureau, Ahmed Muwafaq Zaidan, as a member of Al Qaeda, and placed him on a list of people ‘suspected of carrying out terrorist acts.’ The document referred to the use of the SKYNET system. It is an artificial intelligence system that analyzes people’s identifying data to detect suspicious “patterns of behavior.” It is said that the identified targets were then neutralized through strikes carried out by drones.
As with the Israeli army, the US government insisted that there was always a human element involved in this process, but according to lawyer Jennifer Gibson, the system is deeply flawed: ‘If the computer sets a target, it no longer matters who presses the execution button.’
(When asked if any of the journalists injured in the drone strikes were on Lavender’s kill lists; an IDF spokesman said: ‘The IDF does not use artificial intelligence systems to determine military opera
tions.’)
“Diverse responsibility”
Other journalists believed to have been targeted or killed by an Israeli drone strike include two Al Jazeera staff members, Hamza al-Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya, who were killed on January 7, 2024, after the Israeli military targeted their vehicle with a drone-fired missile. Two freelance journalists traveling with the crew were injured. (The Israeli military has accused al-Dahdouh of belonging to the Islamic Jihad organization, which Al Jazeera denies.)
On November 13, 2023, Ahmed Fatima, a Palestinian cameraman for the Cairo News Channel, was killed in an Israeli drone strike about 50 meters from his home, witnesses said, as he was carrying his wounded six-year-old son. His widow said Fatima, a photojournalist who also worked for the Palestine Press House, a nonprofit that supports independent media and provides legal protection for Palestinian journalists, was trying to take their child to hospital after their home was bombed.
A few months later, on 24 February 2024, A
bdullah al-Hajj, 34, was injured in a drone strike that killed two other people. Al-Hajj, a photojournalist for UNRWA and Al-Quds TV in Jerusalem, was one of the first journalists to document the widespread destruction in Gaza, using his small drone. His images were circulated around the world.
That day, after filming in the Shati refugee camp, al-Hajj said, ‘I turned my drone away and headed towards some fishermen, and the second I asked how much the fish cost, I was targeted.’ Al-Hajj is now receiving treatment in Qatar; both of his legs were amputated above the knees.
(An IDF spokesperson said the attacks, respectively, targeted ‘Hamas terror infrastructure, a military operative, and a terror cell.’)
When presented with our findings, an American drone expert said, ‘I fear that this will become commonplace in the future… Could the alleged targeting errors be more frequent? I think these kinds of errors are deniable,’ referring to the refusal to dismiss extrajudicial killings as human error. ‘
It can be
said without hesitation or equivocation that shooting at someone wearing a press badge is, without a doubt, illegal and immoral, and the person who does it should be prosecuted,’ Kasher, the author of the IDF’s code of ethics, told Forbidden Stories.
Still, Lisa Ling, a former technical ‘sergeant’ on U.S. reconnaissance drone systems, told Forbidden Stories that accountability for targeting journalists is out of the question. ‘Responsibility is complex; the individuals involved have very little information, and there are multiple elements involved in the launch of the drone, making it difficult to determine who is actually responsible,’ Ling added. An
Israeli military spokesperson said the force does not carry out airstrikes ‘without the oversight and approval of commanders,’ adding that ‘the IDF only strikes military targets and militants, and carries out strikes in accordance with the rules of proportionality, taking all necessary precautions when carrying out attacks.’
In November 2023, Israeli official
s said; Including two drone operators still in service, they told NBC they are following strict procedures to reduce civilian casualties. In addition, the IDF military lawyer must sign off on each raid before it is carried out, after review by the intelligence service. Pilots must make an actual assessment of potential civilian deaths while carrying out a raid.
When the rules governing targeting operations were drawn up in the early 2000s, the IDF’s International Law Department stipulated that targeting operations be limited to individuals directly participating in hostilities. ‘The goal was to rationalize the use of drones so that they only target high-profile people and when there is no other option,’ said Gabriella Bloom, who co-authored the guidelines. ‘That doesn’t seem to be the case now,’ Bloom told The Intercept in 2018.
‘It’s disgusting to think that people could get used to this (flying drones), when you have an armed drone flying over you, for a long period of time, that’s horror,’ Ling told Forb
idden Stories.
Since escaping targeting, many journalists told Forbidden Stories that they are now afraid to wear their press jacket. Some people keep them hidden in their bags, and only wear them when they start filming. Gabon, who has now recovered, confirms that the protective vest itself ‘became a way to target you, rather than a way to protect you.’
Mariana Abreu
Contributed by: Aida Delboush and Elios Lian
Contributing to the investigation: Vinas Ruckert, Sofia Alvarez Jurado, Walid Batrawi and Yasser Youssef (Forbidden Stories Federation), Huda Othman (ARIJ), Yuval Abraham (972+), Arthur Carpentier and Majid Zerrouki (Le Monde), Maria Christophe, Maria Ritter, Dajana Kulig and Christo Bouchek (PTM)
This investigation is part of the ‘Gaza Project’, organized by ‘Forbidden Stories’ and in which ARIJ participated with 50 male and female journalists representing 13 institutions.
Source: Maan News Agency