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

This is a disputed claim — there is no independently verified consensus answer

There are competing claims on this, and the "majority" figure comes specifically from Israeli sources, not from independent press-freedom organizations.

The claim that a majority were linked to terror groups

This originates from two Israeli sources:

1. The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (an Israeli think tank with ties to former intelligence officials) published a study claiming that the study examined the identities of 266 individuals identified as journalists or media workers killed in Gaza between October 7, 2023, and November 30, 2025, and found that 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.

2. The IDF itself released a parallel database in October 2026, claiming 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 — 118 active in Hamas's military wing, 49 in Islamic Jihad, two in the Popular Resistance Committees, and one in the Mujahideen Brigades. The IDF also claimed that 17 individuals participated directly in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks.

Why this is contested, not established fact

Several significant problems undermine treating this as settled:

The methodology has been directly disputed. A Palestinian researcher examined the IDF's evidence and found at least seven cases in which the only evidence provided by the IDF was photos of slain journalists holding guns, and in another 12 cases, the IDF provided undated photos of journalists allegedly taking part in Hamas or PIJ military activities — evidence that critics say falls short of proving active combatant status. In at least one case, the IDF's evidence outright debunks the military's own claims: Israel labeled photojournalist Hassan Aslih as a "military operative," but the 2019 Hamas document provided as evidence for this lists him as a "photographer" involved with "media services".

Press freedom and rights organizations reject the framing. Reporters Without Borders has found dozens of cases in which it concluded journalists were targeted deliberately because of their reporting and filed multiple complaints with the International Criminal Court alleging war crimes against the press. In at least one documented instance, RSF named a journalist in an ICC complaint and accused Israel of deliberately targeting civilian journalists and did not mention that individual's alleged status as a Hamas member in the complaint — illustrating the gap between Israeli claims and how rights groups classify the same individuals.

There's a key distinction between affiliation and combatant status. Analysts note that the distinction between past military affiliation and active combatant status has been a repeated source of dispute for press freedom groups attempting to tally journalist deaths. Someone who received training or was nominally listed in a militant group's roster years earlier is not necessarily the same as someone killed while actively functioning as a combatant at the time of death.

Even organizations tracking journalist deaths have made some corrections, but modestly: the Committee to Protect Journalists has acknowledged that 19 Palestinians it had previously identified as journalists or media workers were actually militants or participants in combat — a small fraction of the 170-266 cited by Israeli sources, not a majority.

Family members and Palestinian journalists dispute the claims. Relatives of journalists named in the IDF's list have decried Israel's attempt to recast their slain relatives as militants, and press advocates argue that a journalist killed in Gaza cannot simply be labelled a combatant because the Israeli army says so.

Bottom line

No independent, neutral body has confirmed that a majority of journalists killed in Gaza were terrorists. The 60%+ figure comes exclusively from Israeli military and pro-Israel intelligence sources, using evidence (old photos, documents of disputed provenance, alleged "dual roles") that has been directly challenged by independent researchers and press freedom organizations. International journalist-protection groups like CPJ and RSF continue to classify the vast majority of these deaths as targeting of civilian media workers, and have filed war crimes complaints on that basis. This remains an active, unresolved dispute rather than a settled factual matter.