DOHA: As family and colleagues mourned the killing of cameraman Ahmed Wishah in Gaza, Al Jazeera condemned Israeli accusations on Sunday that he was a ‘sniper operative’ of Palestinian group Hamas.

Israeli forces have killed more than 220 journalists since the war in Gaza erupted, according to the media rights group Reporters Without Borders.

In a statement, the Qatar-based media network condemned the “Israeli occupation army’s baseless accusations, which seek to justify its crimes against Al Jazeera journalists and cameramen in Gaza, most recently the killing of cameraman Ahmed Wishah”.

His death comes mere weeks after his brother, Mohammad Wishah, also an Al Jazeera journalist, was killed by Israel.

The broadcaster said an “Israeli campaign of incitement has relentlessly spread false allegations and baseless accusations against Al Jazeera staff”. It called the effort a “smear campaign” and “a transparent and futile attempt to justify the deliberate targeting of journalists and cameramen”.

“These attempts deceive no one,” it stated.

On Saturday, Ahmed Wishah was killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a house in the Bureij refugee camp. He was the 12th Al Jazeera journalist killed by Israel in Gaza.

The Wishah brothers, both associated with Al Jazeera Mubasher, formed a media duo that documented the suffering of the Palestinian people and the unfolding events of the Gaza war.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2026