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The Israeli military has published a sweeping database identifying 170 Gazans presented as journalists or media workers who held positions in the military wings of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terrorist groups.
An initial Jewish Onliner analysis of the 170 records found 118 Hamas members and 50 Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives. The remaining two belonged to the Popular Resistance Committees and a group identified as Lords of the Desert.
Forty-four held command positions. Seventeen infiltrated Israel during the October 7, 2023, attack.
The military roles stretch far beyond media activity. The records include snipers, intelligence personnel, engineering operatives, operations officers, military trainers and commanders. Sixteen served in military propaganda units, while others served in combat-information units.
The release dramatically expands an IDF project that initially went online with ten names. Each file identifies the individual, media affiliation where applicable, armed organization and military position, frequently accompanied by photographs, military identification information and other material documenting the affiliation. The IDF said the full list followed extensive research into Gazans whose deaths were reported around the world as those of journalists while they simultaneously served terrorist organizations.
Commanders, snipers and October 7 infiltrators
Some of the most striking entries involve journalists who simultaneously occupied senior or specialized positions inside Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Mohammed Mahmoud Abdel Aziz Abu Sharia worked for Shams News Agency while serving as a Palestinian Islamic Jihad sniper in the Gaza Brigade.
Bahaa Rouhi Mahmoud Okasha of the Al-Aqsa Media Network was a Hamas squad commander in a sniper platoon.
Ahmed Salama Hashem Abu Aisha of Palestine Today News Agency was a PIJ branch commander in military intelligence.
Seventeen of the people on the list participated in the October 7 infiltration of Israel.
Among them was Hassan Abdel Fattah Mohammed Aslih, who worked as a journalist for AP, CNN and Alam24 News Agency while serving as a Hamas military operative in the Southern Khan Yunis Battalion. The records state that Aslih infiltrated Israel on October 7.
Mohammed Sami Abdullah Jarghoun, who worked for Smart Media, served in a Hamas support platoon in the Rafah Brigade and also infiltrated Israel that day.
Other October 7 infiltrators on the list worked for outlets including Sawt Al-Aqsa Radio, Palestine Media Agency, Sanad News Agency, Anadolu Agency and Felesteen newspaper.
The imagery published alongside many of the files makes the overlap difficult to miss. Men shown carrying cameras, microphones or wearing press vests appear elsewhere in military clothing, carrying rifles, standing with armed fighters or featured in memorial material issued by Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
CPJ has already removed journalists over combat activity
The IDF disclosure comes only a week after the Committee to Protect Journalists completed a comprehensive review of its own Gaza casualty database.
CPJ reviewed 229 deaths and removed 22 people it had previously counted as journalists or media workers. Nineteen were removed after CPJ’s investigation established that they had engaged in combat. Three others were removed because they did not qualify as journalists or media workers. CPJ also reinstated six cases and reclassified 12.
The overlap with the IDF list is extensive.
In an initial review, Jewish Onliner successfully matched 18 of those 19 people removed by CPJ for combat involvement in its September review to the IDF’s 170 names.
CPJ had already removed another eight Palestinians from its database before the latest review after determining that they had been Hamas or PIJ combatants. All eight appear on the IDF list. In total, 26 of the 27 people CPJ has removed for combat involvement match names in the IDF’s newly released files. CPJ itself says it has historically excluded anyone found to have engaged in combat.
The IDF files also include several people whom CPJ still counts as journalists but whom the Israeli military identified as members or operatives of terror groups.
CPJ recently reclassified Ibrahim Sheikh Ali from a media worker to a journalist. The IDF records identify Ibrahim Jamal Ibrahim Sheikh Ali as a Palestinian Islamic Jihad branch commander in its Operations Unit.
CPJ also reinstated Assaad Shamlakh during its review. The IDF identifies Asaad Abdel Nasser Asaad Shamlakh as a Palestinian Islamic Jihad combat operative in the Gaza Brigade.
International news organizations appear throughout the files
The 170 records reach far beyond Hamas and PIJ-affiliated media.
For example, Amro Nahid Abdel Rahman Abu Odeh worked for Reuters and Turkey’s Anadolu Agency while serving as a Hamas squad commander in the military wing’s photography unit.
Rushdi Yahya Rushdi Al-Sarraj worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), BBC, Le Monde, Radio France and Ain Media while serving in Hamas’s military wing.
Mustafa Said Zuhdi Thuraya worked for AFP while serving as a Hamas military operative.
Mahmoud Samir Misbah Al-Basos worked for Reuters and Anadolu while serving in Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s military wing.
The database also contains multiple journalists connected to Al Jazeera. Mohammed Riyad Abdullah Nofal and Ibrahim Abdel Karim Mohammed Daher are identified as Hamas military operatives. Hamza Wael Hamdan Al-Dahdouh is identified as a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative. Ismail Maher Khamis Al-Ghoul, Anas Jamal Mahmoud Al-Sharif, Hossam Basel Abdel Karim Shabat and Ahmed Bakr Mahmoud Al-Louh are identified as Hamas military operatives.
The IDF had previously released intelligence records concerning several Al Jazeera journalists, including documents it said contained personnel information, training records and other evidence connecting them to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Other names in the files worked for WAFA, Quds News Network, Palestine Today, Palestine Now, Al-Aqsa TV, Al-Quds Al-Youm TV and dozens of smaller Gaza media organizations.
The GenoLIE & the “War on Journalists” hoax
For years, international reporting on journalist deaths in Gaza has largely presented a numerical toll. The IDF’s 170 files add information those tallies left out.
The release also reinforces an argument made by the recently launched Gaza GenoLIE campaign, which has been endorsed by more than 100 civil society organizations, and which argues that casualty figures used to accuse Israel of targeting journalists have included members of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terror groups.
The new files identify journalists who also served as commanders, intelligence operatives, snipers, combatants and military propaganda personnel. Seventeen crossed into Israel on October 7, dozens held command positions, and 26 names overlap with people CPJ itself removed after finding combat involvement.
The result is a much broader challenge to the portrayal of Gaza’s journalist casualty count as a straightforward tally of civilians killed while doing press work.