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

This is a contested claim, with different organizations reaching different conclusions. Here's what the evidence shows:

Claims that a majority were linked to terror groups:

A study by the Israeli-affiliated Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center asserts that a majority of Gaza-based journalists killed since the outbreak of the current war were operatives in, or closely affiliated with, terrorist organizations — primarily Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, examining 266 individuals identified as journalists or media workers killed in Gaza between October 7, 2023, and November 30, 2025. Specifically, at least 157 of them — roughly 60 percent — were members of terror groups or clearly affiliated with them.

Separately, the IDF published its own findings, 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. The IDF broke this down: 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.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) disputes this:

CPJ, widely regarded as the primary independent tracker of journalist deaths globally, has a very different count. As of a September 2026 review, after a review of its tally, it says Israeli forces have killed 191 Palestinian journalists and media workers since the start of the war in Gaza. CPJ has acknowledged some errors — since the Oct. 7 attack, CPJ has removed a total of 27 people from its list of slain journalists after finding that they participated in combat or belonged to a militant group, and removed another nine for other reasons — but this represents roughly 13% of its original list, not a majority.

CPJ maintains strict criteria, stating "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."

However, independent audits challenge CPJ's remaining list too:

An audit by the watchdog group HonestReporting, reported by the Washington Free Beacon, found that the Committee to Protect Journalists still includes at least 120 names linked to Hamas and other terror factions on its widely cited list of "journalists" killed in Gaza — well over half the names on the 209-person list maintained by the group. The same audit found about 56 of the names still on the list were active, violent militants when they died.

Additionally, an earlier 2024 analysis found that one-third of the Palestinian journalists listed by CPJ as being killed in the war in Gaza were employed by terrorist groups — out of 100 Palestinian journalists on the list, 33 worked for "Hamas-affiliated" media outlets.

Bottom line: There is no single, universally accepted answer. Israeli military sources and allied research institutes claim roughly 60% were linked to terror groups, and independent audits of even CPJ's own (more conservative) database suggest well over half may have terror ties. CPJ itself disputes most of these designations, applying stricter legal standards for what counts as "combat" involvement, and its official removals to date represent a smaller fraction (~13%) of its list. The dispute largely hinges on differing definitions of "affiliation" (e.g., working for a Hamas-run media outlet vs. being an active combatant) and on the reliability of evidence—much of which comes from either IDF documentation or militant groups' own martyrdom obituaries, both of which are contested by press freedom advocates as politically motivated.