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

This is a genuinely contested question, with sharply different findings depending on the source and methodology used.

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

The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center — an Israeli research institute — released a study asserting that 60% of media workers killed since October 2023 were tied to Hamas or Islamic Jihad. Specifically, the center examined 266 individuals identified as journalists or media workers killed in Gaza between October 7, 2023, and November 30, 2025, and found 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 are based on public records, Palestinian media reports, and Hamas documents seized by the Israel Defense Forces during ground operations in Gaza.

Separately, an investigation by The Telegraph examined a BBC Arabic report listing more than 180 journalists killed during the war and found that 53 of those named had ties to Hamas or other terrorist groups — a much smaller proportion (about 29%), not a majority.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the most widely cited press-freedom watchdog, disputes the "majority" framing:

CPJ did conduct its own review after militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad published obituaries identifying as combatants individuals previously listed by CPJ as journalists. However, the scale of removals was far smaller than the Israeli study suggests. In its initial review, 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. In a follow-up completed in September 2026, CPJ removed another 22 names, of which nineteen of the 22 people removed in its latest review were dropped after new research established that they had "engaged in combat," while the other three were found not to be journalists or media workers. In total, that amounts to roughly 40 names removed out of an original list of well over 200 — nowhere near a majority.

CPJ has firmly rejected the characterization that most of its listed journalists were combatants. The organization states it does not include anyone in its data sets if there is evidence that they were engaging in combat or inciting imminent violence, and CPJ maintains that Israeli forces remain responsible for by far the majority of killings of journalists and media workers worldwide since 2023. Its board also voted to reaffirm its existing definition of who is a journalist after facing public backlash over its decision to launch a "full review" of its Gaza casualty database.

Bottom line: The "majority linked to terrorism" claim originates from an Israeli intelligence-affiliated research center, not from independent press-freedom monitors. CPJ's own audit — prompted partly by Hamas/PIJ obituaries and Israeli media investigations — resulted in far fewer removals (a few dozen out of 200+), meaning the vast majority of names on CPJ's list remain classified as journalists/media workers, not combatants. This remains a highly disputed and politically charged issue, with pro-Israel outlets pushing the "majority" narrative and press-freedom organizations pushing back against it.