Israel's military said on October 1 that 170 people killed in Gaza and reported around the world as journalists were actually fighters for Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other armed groups[1]. The claims appear on a new English-language site called "The Press Files", which lists a name, photos and documents for each person the military says it can link to a terrorist group[2].
The Israel Defense Forces say they posted full files on just 10 of the 170 names on the first day, with the rest due in the coming hours and days[3]. The outlets named include Reuters, Turkey's state news agency Anadolu, the Palestinian agency Palestine Now, and smaller local agencies and radio stations in Gaza — Sawt Al-Quds, Shams News and Barq Gaza[3]. A military spokesperson summed up the army's stance: "a terrorist wearing a press vest is still a terrorist"[3].
What the military says
The IDF says it checked the identities and affiliations on the list using documents the armed groups themselves published about their own dead fighters, as well as material seized by Israeli troops during ground operations in Gaza[1]. Some of the people on the list, it says, worked at various times as snipers, commanders, trainers or propaganda distributors; others are said to have taken an active part in Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023[3]. The list follows earlier reports: in June, The Times of Israel wrote about several cases of Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters previously described as journalists killed in the war, and a research group close to Israeli intelligence had already claimed that most journalists killed in Gaza had ties to armed groups[4].
How many journalists have died
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) keeps its own database and, as of late June, had counted 209 journalists and media workers killed in Gaza since the war began[5]. The group has already removed 20 names from its own list, after deciding that eight of them had been Hamas or Islamic Jihad fighters, and dropping the other 12 for different reasons[5]. CPJ uses its own method, requiring "at least two independent sources" for each name, and the group's executive director, Jodie Ginsberg, says CPJ "unequivocally condemns the passing off of combatants as journalists or media workers"[5]. Israel remains the country that has killed the most journalists since CPJ started keeping records in 1992[6].
What media groups say
CPJ and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) have treated the new list with caution. The IFJ says the IDF's claims are unproven and warns that such labels put other journalists in Gaza at risk. The federation's general secretary, Anthony Bellanger, pointed out that under Article 79 of the Geneva Convention, journalists in a war zone must be treated as civilians[7]. At Reporters Without Borders, campaigns director Rebecca Vincent, who earlier commented on a similar case involving six Al Jazeera journalists, warned that publicly branding people as terrorists could make their surviving colleagues the next targets[8]. The heads of the Associated Press and Reuters wrote to Israeli officials asking for "urgent and transparent accountability" over the cases[9]. Hamas, for its part, called the killing of journalists and the intimidation of others preparation for a "major crime" it says Israel is planning in Gaza City[9] — a claim from a group designated as a terrorist organization by Israel, the EU and the US, and so cannot be taken as proof on its own.
The military has not yet said when it will publish the remaining files for more than 150 of the 170 names.