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

This is a contested claim, with the answer depending heavily on the source.

The claim originates primarily from Israeli sources:

The most prominent assertion comes from a December 2025 study by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, an Israeli research institute. 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.

A handful of others were linked to Fatah's armed wing, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other factions, with some reportedly serving simultaneously as armed operatives in military units. The center said its conclusions are based on public records, Palestinian media reports, and Hamas documents seized by the IDF during ground operations in Gaza.

Separately, the IDF revealed that 170 individuals who were misleadingly presented as civilian "journalists" killed in strikes on Gaza were actually affiliated with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and other terrorist organizations, with 118 of the journalists active in Hamas's military wing, while 49 operated in Islamic Jihad.

Some independent corroboration exists:

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a press-freedom watchdog not affiliated with Israel, has acknowledged issues with its own data. The Committee to Protect Journalists says that 19 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire who it had previously identified as journalists or media workers were actually militants or participants in combat. Additionally, following a Times of Israel investigation that found multiple Hamas and PIJ operatives were previously identified as journalists, CPJ initiated a full review of its database, and it noted the CPJ had already been "quietly" removing some names from its list in recent weeks.

Important caveats:

Bottom line: The "60% majority" figure is a real claim, but it comes from an Israeli government-aligned source using Israeli intelligence and IDF documents, not from an independent international investigation. While CPJ has acknowledged some of its list included militants and is reviewing its data, the scale of confirmed revisions by neutral monitors (19 names) is far smaller than the 60% figure cited by Israeli sources. So whether this claim is accurate likely depends on which source you trust — it is not a settled, independently verified fact, but rather a hotly disputed assertion in an ongoing information war between Israel and Palestinian/international journalism bodies.