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

I'll search for data on journalists killed in Gaza since October 7th and their reported affiliations.

Claims that a majority of Gazan journalists killed since October 7, 2023 were linked to terrorist organizations come primarily from Israeli military and Israeli-affiliated research groups, and are contested by press-freedom and UN bodies.

What Israeli and affiliated sources claim

> 266 individuals defined as “journalists and media personnel” were killed during the war in the Gaza Strip. The examination indicated that about 60% were members of or affiliated with terrorist organizations, primarily Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)

A summary of that study reported:

> 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

and the institute concluded roughly 60% were members or affiliated.

Details from the IDF:

> Of the 170, the IDF says 118 belonged to Hamas’s military wing and 49 to Palestinian Islamic Jihad

The full breakdown was given as 118 affiliated with Hamas's military wing, 49 with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, two with the Popular Resistance Committees, and one with the Mujahideen Brigades.

Seventeen are said to have crossed into Israel during the October 7, 2023 attack.

As of June 25, CPJ's database listed 209 journalists and media workers killed by Israel in Gaza. After criticism that some names were combatants, CPJ said it had removed eight names after they were established to be Hamas or PIJ operatives, and removed 12 others for separate reasons, and later reported removing 19 terrorists and 3 other fake journalists.

That leaves:

> That leaves a total of 191 supposed Gazan journalists on the CPJ’s rejiggered database—102 of whom still have demonstrable “connections to terrorist groups,” according to an independent review of the CPJ audit performed by the Israeli media watchdog group HonestReporting

HonestReporting described this as:

> "Although the CPJ review removed almost two dozen individuals who participated in combat during the war that began on October 7, 2023, 53 percent of those still listed have terrorist ties

and in a preliminary audit:

> Of the 191 people remaining on the list, 102 have terrorist ties, including 13 with martyr notices

As of June 23, 2026, HonestReporting also stated more than half of the journalists listed by the CPJ as being killed in Gaza were either members or affiliates of an anti-Israel terrorist group, or 112 of 207.

A separate Telegraph examination of a BBC Arabic report listing more than 180 journalists killed found that 53 of those named had ties to Hamas or other terrorist groups.

What other sources say / why the claim is disputed

As of September 2026, the Committee to Protect Journalists documented 189 Palestinian journalists and media workers killed by Israel in Gaza, and disputes over professional and combatant status have complicated assessments.

A UN document (A/81/249) counted:

> By the report’s count, Israeli forces have killed nearly 300 journalists since October 2023

CPJ has said its process requires at least two independent sources before someone is added as a journalist, and that CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg said the group does not include anyone when there is evidence they were engaged in combat, and that journalists affiliated with non-state actors remain civilians under international humanitarian law as long as they do not directly participate in hostilities.

Critics of the IDF database note:

> The IDF’s public database itself relies on varying evidentiary standards: some are undisclosed documents the military says it recovered, and others simply cite unknown “multiple intelligence sources”

Another critique described the IDF "investigation" as containing no new information, and was entirely recycled psy-ops created by a division of Israeli intelligence created for slandering Palestinian journalists, citing a 972 magazine report about a "Legitimization Cell".

Conclusion

Under the definition used by the IDF and the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center - which counts employment by Hamas/PIJ-affiliated media outlets or membership in military wings as affiliation - a majority (about 53-60%) were affiliated.

CPJ, even after its own audit that removed 19 terrorists, still lists 191 deaths as journalists killed by Israel, with an outside pro-Israel watchdog claiming 102 of those remain linked to terror groups. Press-freedom groups, the UN, and other international observers do not accept the terror affiliation characterization as disqualifying journalistic status absent evidence of direct participation in hostilities, and continue to describe the war as the deadliest for journalists.

There is therefore no independent international consensus that a majority were terrorists; the "majority linked" conclusion rests on Israeli military intelligence and affiliated research, which has not been independently verified by outside researchers, in part because Israel barred international correspondents from entering Gaza independently.