Israel claims 170 Gaza deaths reported as journalists were Hamas and PIJ militants

The Israel Defense Forces published an investigation on October 1, 2026, claiming that 170 individuals killed in Gaza and identified as journalists were actually active militants from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The military launched a website detailing their terror roles, asserting that some participated in the October 7 attacks. Meanwhile, Gaza's media office reports 263 journalists killed, and the Committee to Protect Journalists faces intense scrutiny over terror links within its database.

The IDF's investigation and website

• ▪The Israel Defense Forces published an investigation on October 1, 2026, stating that 170 people killed in the Gaza war who had been presented as journalists were actually active militants.
• ▪The Israel Defense Forces launched a dedicated website on October 1, 2026, compiling the names, civil and military ID numbers, and roles of the 170 Gazan individuals it identified as terror operatives.
• ▪The Israel Defense Forces stated that its investigation was based on verified evidence, including visual materials, documents produced by terror organizations, and materials recovered by troops in Gaza.

Affiliations of the accused individuals

• ▪Of the 170 individuals identified by the Israel Defense Forces, 118 were active in Hamas's military wing, 49 in Palestinian Islamic Jihad, two in the Popular Resistance Committees, and one in the Mujahideen Brigades.
• ▪The Israel Defense Forces identified Asem Adli Ahmed al-Barsh as a Hamas terrorist and Mohammed Mahmoud Abdel Aziz Abu Sharia as a Palestinian Islamic Jihad sniper, both of whom had been cited as journalists by international advocacy groups.
• ▪The Israel Defense Forces stated that 17 of the individuals on its list of 170 terror operatives participated in the October 7, 2023, attack on Israeli territory.

Links to international media outlets

• ▪The Israel Defense Forces' list of terror operatives includes Anas al-Sharif, whom New York Times columnist Lydia Polgreen characterized as a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist assassinated by Israel.
• ▪Some of the 170 individuals identified by the Israel Defense Forces as terror operatives had worked for international media outlets, including Reuters, CNN, BBC, AFP, AP, Le Monde, and ABC Australia.

Controversy over the CPJ database

• ▪The Committee to Protect Journalists' board voted 17-1 in July 2026 to affirm that individuals affiliated with militant groups qualify as journalists provided they do not engage in combat or incite imminent violence.
• ▪An independent review by HonestReporting found that 53 percent of the 191 individuals remaining on the Committee to Protect Journalists' revised database still have demonstrable connections to terrorist groups.
• ▪The Committee to Protect Journalists documented 190 deaths of Palestinian reporters and media workers during the war, attributing only one death to a Palestinian militant group.
• ▪The Committee to Protect Journalists removed 19 terrorists and three other individuals from its list following a review, but reinstated four others who had previously been removed.

Casualty reports from Gaza's media office

• ▪Gaza's government media office reported on September 30, 2026, that the number of Palestinian journalists killed since the start of the war had risen to 263.
• ▪Gaza's government media office reported that over 74,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 175,000 injured in the Gaza Strip since October 8, 2023.
• ▪Palestinian journalist Muhammad Abdel Aziz al-Najjar was killed on September 30, 2026, in an Israeli drone strike, according to Gaza's government media office.

Debatable claims

• ▪Individuals affiliated with militant groups should qualify as journalists if they do not engage in combat
• ▪Israel's military deliberately targets journalists in the Gaza Strip
• ▪The Committee to Protect Journalists has failed to maintain a credible database of slain Gazan media workers
• ▪The IDF's evidence is sufficient to classify the 170 slain Gazan media workers as active militants