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

This question has conflicting answers depending on the source, and it's a genuinely contested claim between Israeli military/intelligence sources and press freedom organizations.

The claim that a majority were linked to terrorist groups comes primarily from Israeli sources:

A study by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (which has ties to Israeli military intelligence) 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.

Separately, the IDF itself released a report claiming 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. The military broke this down further: 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. Seventeen of the people on the list invaded Israeli territory in the October 7, 2023, attack.

However, press freedom organizations dispute this characterization:

Reporters Without Borders rejected the Israeli allegations, stating that "Journalists are not terrorists and the mere publication of these documents doesn't constitute proof of their affiliation nor does it give Israel the license to kill." Al Jazeera similarly rejected Israel's "unfounded allegations" against its journalists.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the main international body tracking these deaths, has taken a more measured approach. It conducted a full review of its database after Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad published obituaries identifying as combatants individuals previously listed by CPJ as journalists, and in all countries and conflicts, CPJ 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. As a result, CPJ removed eight names from its Killed database because they were later established to have been Hamas or PIJ combatants — a small fraction of the hundreds of names in CPJ's database, not a majority.

CPJ's CEO emphasized their standard: "CPJ has always been clear 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."

Bottom line: There is no independent, widely-accepted verification that a majority of Gazan journalists killed were linked to terrorist organizations. The 60%/majority figure originates from Israeli military-linked sources (the IDF and the Meir Amit Center) whose methodology and evidence have been disputed by press freedom organizations like RSF and CPJ. CPJ's own independent review found far fewer cases (single digits out of hundreds) where credible evidence supported such links. This remains a contested and politically charged claim rather than a settled fact.