Today, Hamas identified Mustafa Kamal Abdulqader Bakir (ID#: 800707911, age 36), a cameraman for the Hamas-affiliated al-Aqsa TV outlet, as a member of its military media and a commander in the Rafah Brigade’s Artillery Battalion. Bakir was killed in a Nov 2023 airstrike. 🧵
Bakir is listed as a slain journalist/media worker by the Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Federation of Journalists, the Hamas-run Government Media Office, and other trackers.
The Hamas obituary video shows Bakir working with several types of rockets and in his media role. Some sections of the video are of a much younger Bakir, possibly from 2014 while others were shot recently. According to relatives, Bakir was injured in the 2008-2009 Israel-Hamas war, but it isn't clear if that was as part of combat or not.
As far as I'm aware, this is the first clear evidence that Bakir was a militant.
Other militants pictured in the video (clockwise from top left):
Rafah Brigade Commander Raed al-Attar (killed in 2014)
Rafah Brigade Commander Mohammed Mahmoud Saad Shabana (age 54, killed in May 2025 alongside Mohammed Sinwar in a strike on a tunnel under the European Hospital in Khan Younis)
Mohammed Zaki Mohammed Fahjan, another commander in the artillery battalion (ID#: 801043548, age 38, killed in November 2023)
Mohammed Bassem Ahmed al-Jamal, another member of the Rafah Brigade's military media and a journalist for Palestine Now (ID#: 801215336, age 35, killed in April 2024)
I wrote about al-Jamal last month:
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