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

Contested Claims — No Independent Consensus

This is a disputed claim from an Israeli source, not an independently verified consensus fact.

The 60% claim

The claim you're referencing comes from a study by an Israeli government-linked think tank: a new study by the 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, examining the identities of 266 individuals identified as journalists or media workers killed in Gaza between October 7, 2023, and November 30, 2025. The center found at least 157 of them—roughly 60 percent—were members of terror groups or clearly affiliated with them, with conclusions based on public records, Palestinian media reports, and Hamas documents seized by the Israel Defense Forces during ground operations in Gaza.

The study broke down its findings further: at least 47 belonged to Hamas's military wing and 45 were linked to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, including 18 confirmed operatives. Of the remaining cases, eight were identified with Fatah and seven with the Palestinian Authority, while no affiliation was found for the remaining 94.

Why this is contested, not settled

1. Source and methodology concerns. This is a single study from an institute with close ties to Israeli intelligence, not an independent or peer-reviewed body. Researchers said the study was based on a list of media workers published by Hamas's government information office, cross-referenced with reports from Palestinian media outlets and a Hamas document uncovered by IDF troops, which included names and roles of operatives in the Gaza Brigade of Hamas's military wing. Critics could reasonably question whether documents obtained by a combatant force during military operations constitute unbiased evidence.

2. Press freedom organizations dispute the framing entirely. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the leading international body tracking journalist deaths, has pushed back on such claims. When reviewing its list after Israeli allegations, CPJ said it bases determinations solely on whether individuals meet its definitions of who is a journalist, not an individual's affiliation or views, nor in response to pressure from any government or interest group, and that even after review, its figures show Israeli forces were responsible for "by far the majority of killings of journalist[s]."

3. Ongoing controversy over specific cases. Some individual designations remain hotly disputed—for example, Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, whom the IDF said was a Hamas operative killed in an airstrike near Shifa Hospital, while Al Jazeera and press freedom groups maintained he was a legitimate journalist.

4. This has fed into a broader media controversy. Just this week, the BBC faced renewed criticism after reporting the deaths of 53 "journalists" in Gaza who, according to reports, photographs and other evidence, had links to terrorist organizations including Hamas, showing this remains an active, unresolved dispute rather than settled fact.

Bottom line

The "60% majority" figure is a claim from one Israeli research center, based partly on materials seized by the Israeli military itself—not a neutral, independently verified statistic. Major press freedom organizations like CPJ maintain their own rigorous verification standards and dispute the broader narrative, while affirming Israeli forces have killed the vast majority of journalists in this conflict regardless of affiliation debates. Whether you find the Meir Amit study's methodology convincing likely depends on how much weight you give to military-seized documents versus independent journalistic verification standards.