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

This is a contested claim, and the answer depends heavily on which source you consult. Here's what the evidence shows:

The Israeli claim (majority = yes)

An Israeli research institute, the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, released a study in December 2025 concluding that a majority of Gaza-based journalists killed since the outbreak of the war were operatives in, or closely affiliated with, terrorist organizations, based on an examination of 266 individuals identified as journalists or media workers killed in Gaza between October 7, 2023, and November 30, 2025, finding 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, the IDF itself made a related but distinct claim just weeks ago (October 2026), saying 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 170 members of Hamas's military wing, 49 belonging to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, one affiliated with Adonei HaShmama and two with the Popular Resistance Committees.

This has fed into broader controversy: Israeli outlets reported that the BBC faced renewed criticism after reporting the deaths of 53 "journalists" in Gaza who had links to terrorist organizations including Hamas, with some having participated in the Oct. 7 massacre, and that of those 53 names, 12 were removed from the Committee to Protect Journalists' list after CPJ determined the individuals either did not qualify as "journalists or media workers" or had participated in combat.

What the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says

CPJ — widely considered the leading independent tracker of journalist deaths worldwide — has made some corrections but has not endorsed the "majority" framing. It has removed several names from its database after determining that those individuals had participated in combat, and has verified the killing of at least 186 journalists since October 7, 2023, a much lower figure than the 266 examined in the Israeli study. CPJ and international press freedom groups continue to describe Gaza as one of the deadliest places for journalists and have pushed back on blanket claims of terrorist affiliation, treating most individual Israeli allegations case-by-case rather than accepting the aggregate 60% figure.

Bottom line

The "majority were terrorists/linked to terror groups" claim comes specifically from Israeli government and Israeli-aligned research sources (the IDF and the Meir Amit Center), not from independent press-freedom monitors like CPJ or the International Federation of Journalists, which report significantly lower casualty counts and have not validated the 60% figure. The findings contradict claims by Hamas and various NGOs that 220–256 journalists were killed over two years of fighting — meaning there is a basic dispute over who even counts as a "journalist" in the first place, which is central to whether a "majority" claim is accurate. So: this is Israel's assessment, actively disputed by Palestinian authorities and only partially corroborated by independent journalist-safety organizations, who have made individual corrections but not endorsed the overall majority claim.