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

This is a highly contested claim, and the answer depends heavily on the source you consult. Here's what the evidence shows:

Claims supporting "yes, a majority"

A study by the Israeli Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (published December 2025) is the primary source for this claim. It asserts that a majority of Gaza-based journalists killed since the outbreak of the war were operatives in, or closely affiliated with, terrorist organizations, examining 266 individuals identified as journalists or media workers killed in Gaza between October 7, 2023, and November 30, 2025, and finding at least 157 of them — roughly 60 percent — were members of terror groups or clearly affiliated with them. That breaks down to at least 47 who belonged to Hamas's military wing and 45 linked to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, including 18 confirmed operatives. The center says its findings are based on public records, Palestinian media reports, and Hamas documents seized by the Israel Defense Forces during ground operations in Gaza.

A separate HonestReporting audit of the Committee to Protect Journalists' (CPJ) own database reached a similar but lower conclusion, finding that CPJ maintains a database of 209 Gazan media workers killed during the war, and a review indicates that 120 of the individuals, or 57%, had terrorist ties.

Important caveats and pushback

Methodology and bias concerns: Both studies were produced by Israeli or pro-Israel advocacy organizations (Meir Amit Center, HonestReporting), not independent or neutral bodies. CPJ itself, whose own data these groups analyzed, has not endorsed this "majority" framing and continues to report large numbers of journalist deaths without labeling most as combatants.

Evidence disputes: Individual cases remain heavily contested. For example, when Israel killed Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif and called him "the head of a terrorist cell in the Hamas terrorist organization," the network rejected this, and the Israeli military did not respond to NBC News' request for evidence that he was a terrorist when asked. Similarly, in an earlier high-profile case (Yasser Murtaja, 2018), Israel's Defense Minister provided no evidence to back up the claim that he was a Hamas operative, and Israel's military said it was still investigating and was not able to confirm the claims.

Watchdog groups' position: CPJ maintains that no one has been held accountable for any targeted killings of a journalist by Israel since October 7, 2023, or in the preceding 22 years, and organizations like Reuters have documented cases—such as the August 2025 Nasser Hospital strike—where a Reuters investigation showed the target was a journalist's camera that had been positioned there for months, with the Israeli military's knowledge, to provide Reuters with a live news feed, contradicting Israel's claim it was targeting a Hamas camera.

Bottom line

The "majority linked to terrorism" claim originates specifically from pro-Israel research institutions analyzing Hamas-affiliated media outlets and IDF-provided intelligence/documents—sources that international press freedom organizations, journalists' employers (like Al Jazeera and Reuters), and independent watchdogs have frequently disputed on a case-by-case basis, often citing lack of publicly verifiable evidence. There is no independent, non-partisan verification of the "60% linked to terrorism" figure; it remains a contested claim rather than an established fact.