The IDF on Thursday published the names of 170 Palestinians killed in Gaza during the war who were presented internationally as journalists or media workers but who the military says also served as members of terrorist organizations, primarily Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The move comes after the IDF said it had identified a recurring pattern in recent months in which Hamas and Islamic Jihad themselves published information after the deaths of some media workers acknowledging that they had also served in the organizations’ military wings.
“Following an extensive research effort, the IDF is now revealing that 170 Gazans who were killed during the war and presented as journalists and media personnel actually served as terrorists in terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, primarily Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad,” the IDF said.
The military said it was publishing what it described as verified evidence, including images and documents produced by the terrorist organizations, some of which were recovered in Gaza, that it says demonstrate the individuals’ affiliations and roles.
The IDF said 118 of the 170 were members of Hamas’ military wing, 49 belonged to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, one was affiliated with Adonei HaShmama and two with the Popular Resistance Committees.
According to the military, 17 of those on the list participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. The IDF said more than 40 of the deaths on the list prompted condemnations of Israel from the United Nations.
Some of those named had also worked for major international media organizations, according to the IDF, including Reuters, CNN, ABC News, The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, the BBC, Le Monde and Australia’s ABC.
The military said the disclosures were intended to challenge accusations that Israel has deliberately and systematically targeted journalists during the Gaza war.
“Throughout the war, various media organizations in the international community repeatedly accused the State of Israel and the IDF, without presenting verified findings, of deliberately harming journalists,” the military said.
It added that in some cases, “the terrorist organizations themselves presented those individuals as terrorists in their ranks and even claimed them as their own.”
The ‘journalist’ Amro Nahid Abdel Rahman Abu Odeh with a camera
(Photo: IDF)
And with a Kalashnikov
(Photo: IDF)
The military said the material illustrates what it describes as a gap between how some of the dead were portrayed internationally and their alleged roles on the ground.
“The information now being revealed illustrates the gap between the picture presented around the world and the reality on the ground, and provides additional conclusive evidence that the IDF does not deliberately and systematically operate against journalists, but against terrorist organizations and their members, in accordance with international law,” the military said.
International media outlets, human rights organizations and international institutions have repeatedly cited the number of journalists and media workers killed in Gaza while criticizing Israel’s conduct during the war. The IDF argues that such figures often fail to distinguish between journalists carrying out media work and people who were simultaneously serving in terrorist organizations.
Among the cases highlighted by the military was Amro Nahid Abdel Rahman Abu Odeh, who worked for Reuters and Turkey’s Anadolu Agency.
According to the IDF, Abu Odeh was also a team commander in the photography unit of Hamas’ military wing. The military published images showing him both carrying a camera and holding a Kalashnikov rifle.
Another man named by the IDF, Hassan Majdi Ibrahim Abu Warda, worked for the Barq Gaza news agency but was also, according to the military, a sniper in Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Northern Gaza Brigade.
The IDF said its new website was created to make the underlying material publicly accessible, including the individuals’ alleged organizational affiliations and military positions as well as evidence that the military says can be released publicly.
The military also addressed controversy surrounding the documentary NAZA, after IDF representatives viewed the film.
“The film presents a distorted, misleading and unrealistic picture,” the IDF said. “We never planned, approved or carried out a strike in which 500 civilians were expected to be killed.”