Were a majority of the Gazan journalists killed since October 7th, 2023 linked to terrorist organizations?
Short answer: No.
What we do know
•Independent press‑freedom monitors (CPJ and RSF) have documented that the vast majority of those killed were Palestinian journalists and media workers. CPJ’s one‑year review in October 2024 already found an unprecedented toll among journalists, nearly all of them Palestinian.[1]
•In early 2024, CPJ said that in the cases it had documented, multiple independent inquiries had found no evidence that the journalists it counted were engaged in militant activity.[2]
•In June–September 2026, CPJ conducted and then completed a formal review of its Gaza/Israel database in light of militant‑group obituaries that named some deceased as fighters. After the review, CPJ reaffirmed its methodology; reporting at the time said CPJ removed a number of names it concluded were combatants, but the bulk of the list remained journalists/media workers. The Washington Post reported that CPJ removed 27 names while still counting 191 Palestinian journalists and media workers killed since October 7, 2023. That is far from a “majority.”[3]
•RSF has repeatedly filed complaints to the ICC alleging Israeli attacks on journalists in Gaza, and has criticized attempts to discredit Palestinian journalists without publicly verifiable evidence. In some individual cases RSF has verified an affiliation, but this does not approach a majority of the deaths.[4]
About contrary claims
•The Israeli military and some advocacy outlets have asserted that many of those labeled “journalists” were actually members of Hamas or other armed groups. These are allegations from a party to the conflict and have not been independently shown to cover a majority of the deceased.[5]
•Earlier insinuations that major news organizations’ Gaza freelancers “embedded” with Hamas on October 7 were publicly rejected by those outlets; even HonestReporting later said it accepted the outlets’ statements that they had no prior knowledge of the attack.[6]
Bottom line
•After independent reviews and updates, there is no credible evidence that a majority of Gazan journalists killed since October 7, 2023 were militants. Some cases have been identified as combatants and removed by CPJ, but these constitute a minority of the total.[7]
If you’d like, I can break down what “journalist” and “media worker” mean in these databases and how CPJ/RSF verify affiliations versus job roles.
Backs: “In early 2024, CPJ said that in the cases it had documented, multiple independent inquiries had found no evidence that the journalists it counted were engaged in militant activity.”
Backs: “The Washington Post reported that CPJ removed 27 names while still counting 191 Palestinian journalists and media workers killed since October 7, 2023. That is far from a “majority.””
Backs: “Earlier insinuations that major news organizations’ Gaza freelancers “embedded” with Hamas on October 7 were publicly rejected by those outlets; even HonestReporting later said it accepted the outlets’ statements that they had no prior knowledge of the attack.”