Investigating claims about Gazan journalists killed since Oct. 7 — gathering casualty and affiliation data.
According to several audits published since late 2025, a majority were found to have documented links, though the definition of "linked" is contested.
•Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC) study:
•The Jerusalem-based institute published a 140-page study in December examining, name by name, Palestinians identified as journalists or media workers killed in Gaza, and concluded that roughly 60% were members of or affiliated with terrorist organizations — primarily Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
•The study examined 266 media workers reported killed between Oct. 7, 2023, and Nov. 30, 2025, and found that 157 were members of or affiliated with terror groups. At least 47 belonged to Hamas's military wing and 45 were linked to Palestinian Islamic Jihad
•The ITIC is an Israel-based research group with close ties to the Israel Defense Forces
•HonestReporting audit of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) database:
•CPJ, the New York-based press-freedom group whose tally is widely cited, listed 209 journalists and media workers killed by Israel in Gaza since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attack as of June 25. After criticism it launched a review and said it had removed eight names after they were established to be Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives
•HonestReporting audit found that 120 of the 209 Gazan media workers, or 57 percent, had terrorist ties
•The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) still includes at least 120 names linked to Hamas and other terror factions on its widely cited list of "journalists" killed in Gaza, according to an independent audit — That's well over half the names on the 209-person list
•About 56 of the names still on the list were active, violent militants when they died
•After CPJ's own updated audit reduced the list to 191, HonestReporting found Of the 191 Gazan journalists on CPJ's list, 102 were found to have connections to terrorist groups — 53 percent. That included 13 with martyr notices, 18 identified as terrorists by the IDF, 10 by open-source information and 59 who worked for terrorist-affiliated news outlets
•The IDF has published the Press Files – a online dossier documenting 170 terrorists masquerading as members of the press
•The IDF has published a database of 170 Gazans presented to the world as journalists and media workers who it says served in the military wings of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terror groups. 118 of them are confirmed Hamas terrorists
•Following what it described as an extensive investigation, the IDF said 118 of the 170 served in Hamas's "military wing" and 49 in Palestinian Islamic Jihad
•What "linked" means - dispute over definition:
•HonestReporting breakdown: 25 had martyr posters issued by terrorist organizations, 18 had been identified by the IDF as terrorists, 13 were identified as combatants through eulogies, family statements, documents, and a total of 61 worked for media outlets affiliated with or controlled by terrorist organizations
•For CPJ's Gaza database, 26 were employed by or freelanced for Al-Aqsa TV, which CPJ itself characterized as "Hamas-affiliated"; 19 others worked for Al-Quds Al-Youm, which the U.S. State Department has identified as being "run by Islamic Jihad"
•CPJ CEO has said the group does not include anyone in its database when there is evidence they were engaged in combat or inciting imminent violence, and that journalists affiliated with non-state actors remain civilians under international humanitarian law as long as they do not directly participate in hostilities. CPJ critics say CPJ decided that "Organizations affiliated with militant groups" meet the criteria of a legitimate journalistic outlet , which allows employment by Hamas or Islamic Jihad media to still count as journalism.
Other tallies of total journalists killed vary: CPJ says Israeli forces have killed 191 Palestinian journalists and media workers since the start of the war in Gaza, while Gaza government offices and other groups cite 240-263.
In summary, Israeli-linked investigations - ITIC, IDF, and HonestReporting's audit of CPJ data - all conclude that roughly 53-60% of those listed as journalists killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023 had documented membership, affiliation or employment ties to Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad or other armed groups. Press-freedom and advocacy groups dispute that employment by a Hamas-affiliated outlet or past affiliation equals being a combatant or "terrorist," and argue the definition inflates the percentage.