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 the source.

Claims that a majority were linked to terror groups come primarily from Israeli government and pro-Israel sources:

A November 2025 study by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center examined the identities 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.

More recently, in October 2026 the IDF released its own database claiming 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, with 118 active in Hamas's military wing and 49 in Islamic Jihad, and noted seventeen of the people on the list invaded Israeli territory in the October 7, 2023, attack.

However, press freedom organizations and independent reviewers dispute this characterization:

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the main independent tracker of journalist deaths, conducted its own audit after Hamas and PIJ themselves published obituaries claiming some of the dead as fighters. CPJ stated it has always been clear that it does not include anyone in its data sets if there is evidence that they were engaging in combat or inciting imminent violence, which is consistent with international humanitarian law, which considers journalists affiliated with non-state actors to be civilians, provided they do not directly participate in hostilities. After this review, CPJ removed eight individuals from its "killed" database after confirming they were Hamas or PIJ members, with another 12 names removed for unrelated reasons, leaving its count at roughly 209 journalists.

A Palestinian researcher examining the IDF's own "Press Files" database found significant evidentiary gaps: in 59 cases, the IDF did not provide any evidence for its claim that a journalist was a member of Hamas or PIJ other than that the claim was "based on multiple intelligence sources", and in at least seven cases the only evidence was photos of slain journalists holding guns, while in another 12 cases the IDF provided undated photos allegedly showing militant activity. This researcher argued that CPJ had investigated many of the same individuals and concluded those journalists were NOT engaged in any militant activity, noting that past affiliation "doesn't make them combatants forever".

A separate watchdog analysis of CPJ's revised list claimed that even after removing combatants, 53 percent of those still listed have terrorist ties, with CPJ failing to remove identified terrorists and even reinstating some to the database — though this finding itself comes from a pro-Israel advocacy source (HonestReporting) rather than an independent body.

Bottom line: There is no neutral consensus figure. Israeli government and allied organizations assert that 40–60% of those counted as "journalists" killed in Gaza were combatants or militants, based largely on IDF intelligence and captured documents. CPJ and some independent researchers accept that some individuals had militant affiliations but dispute the scale and evidentiary basis of these claims, arguing that past affiliation, appearing in a militant group's obituary, or being photographed with a weapon does not necessarily mean someone was an active combatant at the time of death. The dispute remains unresolved and highly politicized, with competing lists compiled by parties with strong incentives on both sides.