IDF: 170 Gazans presented as journalists were terror operatives

The Israel Defense Forces has identified 170 Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip during the war who were presented as journalists or media workers but were also operatives in terrorist organizations, the military revealed on Thursday.

Following what it described as an extensive investigation, the IDF said 118 of the 170 served in Hamas’s military wing and 49 in Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Two were affiliated with the Popular Resistance Committees and one with the Mujahideen Brigades.

Seventeen of the 170 participated in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel, according to the military.

“For nearly three years, the IDF has been accused of targeting journalists in Gaza. Today, we are exposing the truth,” IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said.

The IDF launched a dedicated website listing the names and photographs of the 170 Palestinians, as well as their alleged organizational affiliations, military roles and evidence that the army says substantiates its findings.

The evidence includes documents produced by the terrorist organizations themselves, some of which were recovered by Israeli forces in Gaza, as well as visual material, open-source information and intelligence gathered during the war.

According to the IDF, some of those on the list also worked for international news organizations, including Reuters, CNN, the BBC, AFP, AP, Le Monde and ABC Australia.

The military said the findings challenge repeated accusations that Israel has deliberately targeted journalists during the Gaza war.

“We have seen this pattern before: terrorists presented as medical workers. Hospitals and ambulances exploited for terrorist activity. Terror infrastructure in the heart of civilian areas,” Defrin said.

“Again and again, IDF soldiers were criticized before the facts were checked—including by some of the world’s leading news outlets.”

The military said that in some cases, terrorist organizations themselves had publicly identified individuals portrayed internationally as journalists as members of their military wings.

The disclosure followed the IDF’s release earlier Thursday of details on 10 of the cases. The military said at the time that some of those individuals had participated in the Oct. 7 attack and that additional names and evidence would be released.

Among the cases highlighted was Muhammad Abd al-Aziz Muhammad Nagar, whom the IDF said was a Hamas military operative who participated in the Oct. 7 massacre and was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Gaza on Wednesday.

According to the military, Nagar was subsequently presented as a journalist without reference to his membership in Hamas’s military wing. The IDF said that before his death he had been involved in planning attacks against Israeli troops and civilians and in efforts to rebuild Hamas’s capabilities.

The IDF said the newly published material demonstrates what it called a significant gap between the international portrayal of some of those killed and their activities in Gaza’s terrorist organizations.

The military reiterated that it does not deliberately or systematically target journalists and said its operations are directed against terrorist organizations and their operatives in accordance with international law.