Were a majority of the Gazan journalists killed since October 7th, 2023 linked to terrorist organizations?

I'll research this topic to give you an accurate, well-sourced answer.This is a genuinely contested question, with sharply different assessments depending on the source. Here's what the evidence shows:

Claims that a majority were linked to terrorist groups

The IDF and Israeli-aligned researchers say yes. In late 2025, the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center examined 266 individuals identified as journalists or media workers killed in Gaza between October 7, 2023, and November 30, 2025, and found that at least 157 of them — roughly 60 percent — were members of terror groups or clearly affiliated with them, including 104 linked to Hamas and 45 to Islamic Jihad. The center said its conclusions were based on public records, Palestinian media reports, and Hamas documents seized by the Israel Defense Forces during ground operations in Gaza.

The IDF itself later published a formal list, stating that "170 Gazans killed during the war who were presented as journalists and media personnel were in fact serving as terrorists for terror organizations in the Strip, foremost among them Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad". According to that account, 118 of the journalists were active in Hamas's military wing, while 49 operated in Islamic Jihad, two were members of the Popular Resistance Committees, and one was in the Mujahideen Brigades, and 17 of the people on the list invaded Israeli territory in the October 7, 2023, attack.

A separate independent audit by the watchdog group HonestReporting of the Committee to Protect Journalists' (CPJ) own list found that at least 120 names linked to Hamas and other terror factions remained on CPJ's widely cited list of "journalists" killed in Gaza — well over half the names on the 209-person list, with about 56 of the names still on the list being active, violent militants when they died.

What CPJ and press freedom groups say

CPJ, the leading international press-freedom body tracking these deaths, disputes the "majority" framing. After launching a review in mid-2026 prompted by obituaries Hamas and PIJ themselves published, CPJ removed eight names from its Killed database because they were later established to have been Hamas or PIJ combatants, with a further 12 individuals removed for other reasons. A later, broader review found that 19 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire who it had previously identified as journalists or media workers were actually militants or participants in combat, after which it said Israeli forces had killed 191 Palestinian journalists and media workers since the start of the war. CPJ maintains it removes names from its database if subsequent evidence shows individuals were not journalists or media workers, were not active in those capacities at the time of their deaths, or were engaging in combat, but stresses that "we do not include anyone in our data sets if there is evidence that they were engaging in combat or inciting imminent violence. 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". In other words, CPJ's removals (roughly 27 out of ~230+ names ever listed) amount to a small fraction, not a majority — a figure far below Israel's claimed 60%.

Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) continues to count the toll very differently, saying nearly 220 journalists have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023, making Israel the deadliest actor for journalists for three consecutive years, and largely rejects the broad "combatant" framing applied by Israel.

The core dispute

The disagreement comes down to methodology and definitions:

Bottom line

There is no neutral, universally accepted figure. Israeli military and government sources, along with allied research centers, claim that a majority (around 60%, or roughly 157–170 out of ~230-270 individuals) of those identified as journalists killed in Gaza were combatants or militants tied to Hamas, Islamic Jihad, or smaller factions — and they've published names and purported documentary evidence to back this. CPJ, the main international body tracking journalist deaths, has acknowledged and removed some names after reviewing evidence (including militant groups' own obituaries), but its removals represent a small minority of its list, not a majority, and it continues to count roughly 190+ deaths as legitimate journalists/media workers. RSF's count remains even higher at nearly 220. Given the lack of independent on-the-ground verification (due to Israel's restrictions on foreign press access to Gaza) and the political stakes for both sides, this remains a contested empirical claim rather than a settled fact.