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Israel is demanding an apology from Belgium after evidence emerged suggesting a Belgian aid agency employee killed in an April 2024 strike, whose death Brussels had condemned, may have had links to Hamas — the worker reportedly appeared in uniform in a Hamas-linked channel post describing him as a "mujahid."
Attributed to Israel
Multiple independent outlets confirm that in September 2026 Israel's embassy in Belgium publicly demanded an apology from Brussels over its 2024 condemnation of an IDF strike that killed Enabel (Belgian development agency) employee Abdallah Nabhan and his young son in Rafah in April 2024. The Times of Israel, The Jewish Chronicle, AllIsraelNews and Brussels Signal all report that the demand followed the surfacing of a mourning post/image from a Telegram channel linked to Hamas's Khan Younis Brigade (reportedly first flagged by open-source researcher Gabriel Epstein) describing Nabhan as a 'mujahid' and showing him in uniform. However, the Times of Israel explicitly states 'the report has not been independently verified,' and there was 'no immediate response from Belgium' confirming or denying the Hamas affiliation. Belgium's then-foreign minister Hadja Lahbib's original 2024 condemnation and ambassador summons are well documented (VRT, AAP/The New Daily, Middle East Monitor). I found no fact-check from Reuters Fact Check, AFP Fact Check, Bellingcat, or EUvsDisinfo specifically adjudicating whether Nabhan was or was not a Hamas operative; coverage so far is limited to news reporting of Israel's claim and the Telegram post, not independent forensic verification.
Supporting sources
The core event — Israel's embassy publicly demanding a Belgian apology over newly surfaced Hamas-linked material naming Nabhan a 'mujahid' — is corroborated by multiple independent news outlets, so that part of the claim is well-supported; however, the underlying assertion that Nabhan actually had Hamas links rests solely on an unverified Telegram post and Israeli embassy assertions, with no independent forensic confirmation or Belgian government confirmation found, and no major fact-checking organization has adjudicated the claim.
Some independent corroboration was found, but it isn't yet conclusive.
Sep 8, 2026, 10:44 AM UTC
LikelyInitial assessment.
First observed Sep 8, 2026, 10:44 AM UTC · Last reviewed Oct 23, 2026, 9:32 AM UTC