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<\/a>Group Behind Gaza Press Death Toll Quietly Removes Hamas and Islamic Jihad Fighters From Its List<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\nDebbie Weiss<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The\u00a0<\/span>Committee to Protect\u00a0<\/span>Journalists has\u00a0<\/span>launched a full review of its\u00a0<\/span>Gaza journalist\u00a0<\/span>casualty database after Hamas and\u00a0<\/span>Palestinian Islamic Jihad\u00a0<\/span>published obituaries identifying some\u00a0<\/span>of those previously listed as\u00a0<\/span>journalists as combatants\u00a0<\/span>\u2014 raising pointed questions\u00a0<\/span>about how one of the war\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>most cited press-freedom\u00a0<\/span>tallies was compiled.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The New\u00a0<\/span>York-based watchdog said\u00a0<\/span>last week it had removed eight\u00a0<\/span>names from its database after\u00a0<\/span>they were established to be Hamas or\u00a0<\/span>Palestinian Islamic Jihad\u00a0<\/span>operatives, and removed 12 others for\u00a0<\/span>separate reasons. CPJ said the full\u00a0<\/span>review of all names on its list of\u00a0<\/span>journalists and media workers\u00a0<\/span>killed during the Israel-Hamas\u00a0<\/span>war is expected to be\u00a0<\/span>completed in July.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n As of June 25,\u00a0<\/span>CPJ\u2019s database listed 209\u00a0<\/span>journalists and media workers killed\u00a0<\/span>by Israel in Gaza and in\u00a0<\/span>Israeli detention centers since the\u00a0<\/span>Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attack on\u00a0<\/span>southern Israel, in which about\u00a0<\/span>1,200 people were killed and\u00a0<\/span>252 were taken hostage.\u00a0<\/span>The organization has\u00a0<\/span>described the conflict as the\u00a0<\/span>deadliest for journalists since it\u00a0<\/span>began tracking press deaths\u00a0<\/span>more than three decades ago\u00a0<\/span>\u2014 a claim now under\u00a0<\/span>scrutiny.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Jonathan Conricus, a\u00a0<\/span>senior fellow at the Foundation for\u00a0<\/span>Defense of Democracies and a former\u00a0<\/span>IDF international spokesperson,\u00a0<\/span>accused CPJ of failing to exercise\u00a0<\/span>sufficient scrutiny of its Gaza list\u00a0<\/span>despite what he described as\u00a0<\/span>clear evidence from the outset of the\u00a0<\/span>war that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic\u00a0<\/span>Jihad were exploiting\u00a0<\/span>journalistic cover for military\u00a0<\/span>purposes.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n CPJ \u201cwillingly and knowingly\u00a0<\/span>participated in an ongoing\u00a0<\/span>delegitimization effort against Israel\u00a0<\/span>by making a\u00a0<\/span>conscious decision not to undertake any\u00a0<\/span>due diligence or scrutiny in their\u00a0<\/span>lists and their description of\u00a0<\/span>so-called media workers in\u00a0<\/span>Gaza,\u201d Conricus told\u00a0The<\/em>\u00a0Algemeiner<\/em>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n H<\/span>e said the failure came despite\u00a0<\/span>what he called \u201cobvious evidence\u201d\u00a0<\/span>that Hamas and Palestinian\u00a0<\/span>Islamic Jihad were \u201cviolating the\u00a0<\/span>special and protected status of\u00a0<\/span>journalists\u201d by deploying terrorists in\u00a0<\/span>press vests and other press insignia to\u00a0<\/span>gain protection.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI cannot imagine\u00a0<\/span>that CPJ was not aware, because Israel\u00a0<\/span>said so from the beginning, that\u00a0<\/span>there are dual-purpose media\u00a0<\/span>workers who are first and foremost\u00a0<\/span>terrorists in Hamas and Islamic\u00a0<\/span>Jihad and have a secondary income as\u00a0<\/span>media workers,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n CPJ has\u00a0<\/span>said its process requires at\u00a0<\/span>least two independent sources\u00a0<\/span>before someone is added to the database\u00a0<\/span>as a journalist or media worker. It\u00a0<\/span>has also noted that in-person\u00a0<\/span>verification by outside researchers\u00a0<\/span>has been impossible since Israel\u00a0<\/span>barred international correspondents\u00a0<\/span>from entering Gaza independently at the\u00a0<\/span>start of the war.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n CPJ CEO Jodie\u00a0<\/span>Ginsberg said the group does not\u00a0<\/span>include anyone in its database when\u00a0<\/span>there is evidence they were\u00a0<\/span>engaged in combat or inciting imminent\u00a0<\/span>violence, and that journalists\u00a0<\/span>affiliated with non-state actors remain\u00a0<\/span>civilians under international\u00a0<\/span>humanitarian law as long as they do not\u00a0<\/span>directly participate in hostilities.\u00a0<\/span>The organization also condemned the\u00a0<\/span>misrepresentation of combatants as\u00a0<\/span>journalists and the misuse of press\u00a0<\/span>insignia, warning that such conduct\u00a0<\/span>endangers legitimate reporters working\u00a0<\/span>in conflict zones.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Conricus said that\u00a0<\/span>acknowledgment only underscored why the\u00a0<\/span>review should have been undertaken\u00a0<\/span>earlier, and called on CPJ to explain\u00a0<\/span>why it had \u201crefused to undertake the\u00a0<\/span>necessary procedural measures\u201d to\u00a0<\/span>prevent misuse.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIf the organization\u00a0<\/span>really wants to regain legitimacy and\u00a0<\/span>trustworthiness, they need to admit\u00a0<\/span>that they were fooled and that they\u00a0<\/span>knowingly allowed Hamas and Islamic\u00a0<\/span>Jihad to abuse their statistics,\u201d he\u00a0<\/span>said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Shlomo Mofaz, director of\u00a0<\/span>the Meir Amit Intelligence and\u00a0<\/span>Terrorism Information Center, said the\u00a0<\/span>problem now being addressed by CPJ\u00a0<\/span>was far from new. His institute\u00a0<\/span>published a 140-page study in December\u00a0<\/span>examining, name by name, Palestinians\u00a0<\/span>identified as journalists or media\u00a0<\/span>workers killed in Gaza, and\u00a0<\/span>concluded that roughly 60% were\u00a0<\/span>members of or affiliated with terrorist\u00a0<\/span>organizations \u2014 primarily Hamas\u00a0<\/span>and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Israeli officials have claimed for years that Palestinian terrorists exploit journalist designations in their battle against Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The\u00a0<\/span>study examined 266 media workers\u00a0<\/span>reported killed between Oct. 7, 2023,\u00a0<\/span>and Nov. 30, 2025, and found\u00a0<\/span>that 157 were members of or affiliated\u00a0<\/span>with terror groups. At least 47\u00a0<\/span>belonged to Hamas\u2019s military wing\u00a0<\/span>and 45 were linked to Palestinian\u00a0<\/span>Islamic Jihad, including 18\u00a0<\/span>confirmed operatives.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Mofaz said the\u00a0<\/span>methodology was the same his institute\u00a0<\/span>has applied for years \u2014 examining\u00a0<\/span>Arabic-language social media,\u00a0<\/span>Telegram channels, mourning notices,\u00a0<\/span>funeral footage, organizational\u00a0<\/span>statements and claims of\u00a0<\/span>responsibility.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cEven before this\u00a0<\/span>war, every operation, whether in\u00a0<\/span>the West Bank or Gaza, showed us\u00a0<\/span>that the casualty numbers were not to\u00a0<\/span>be trusted,\u201d he told\u00a0<\/span>The Algemeiner<\/em>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In earlier rounds\u00a0<\/span>of fighting, Mofaz said, that same\u00a0<\/span>process regularly led the center to\u00a0<\/span>find that more than 60% \u2014 and\u00a0<\/span>sometimes close to 70% \u2014 of those\u00a0<\/span>listed by Palestinian sources as\u00a0<\/span>civilians killed were in fact members\u00a0<\/span>of Hamas, Islamic\u00a0<\/span>Jihad or other armed groups. He added\u00a0<\/span>that the problem was not confined\u00a0<\/span>to adult men: even in cases\u00a0<\/span>involving minors, he said, researchers\u00a0<\/span>sometimes found social media\u00a0<\/span>posts expressing a desire for\u00a0<\/span>martyrdom alongside images with\u00a0<\/span>weapons.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Conricus called for CPJ to\u00a0<\/span>undergo a \u201ccomplete overhaul,\u201d\u00a0<\/span>comparing what he described as its\u00a0<\/span>exploitation by Hamas to the\u00a0<\/span>infiltration of humanitarian\u00a0<\/span>organizations more broadly \u2014 including,\u00a0<\/span>he said, UNRWA, whose schools were\u00a0<\/span>used to hide terror tunnels and\u00a0<\/span>weapons caches and whose staff\u00a0<\/span>included teachers who doubled as\u00a0<\/span>Hamas operatives.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Journalists and media workers protest after Al-Jazeera personnel killed in Gaza, in Barcelona, Spain, Aug. 13, 2025. Photo: Marc Asensio\/NurPhoto via Reuters Connect<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n