Gaza journalists mark impunity day as groups' death counts clash with Israel's list of 170 'operatives'

Palestinian journalists in Gaza held a protest on Monday, the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. They called for medical evacuations for wounded colleagues and for Israel to be held to account. Two Palestinian press bodies said 260 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since October 2023.

That figure is one of at least seven counts now in public use. The counts range from 63 to 332, and they measure different things. A French broadcaster's investigation, published the same day, compared the main lists with one released by Israel's military on October 1. The military named 170 people killed in Gaza who had been presented as journalists. It says they were members of armed groups.

The press freedom groups say Israel has not shown proof for most of the names they still count. Israel's military says its findings rest on reliable intelligence. The gap matters for any future legal case. It also shapes how governments, courts and the public judge the war's toll on the press.

What Israel's military published

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) posted a page called "The Press Files" on October 1. It lists 170 names under the heading "The 170 Military Operatives." The page says that "individuals presented as innocent journalists were, in fact, militants in the military wings of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and other terrorist organizations."

The page says its findings draw on "a wide range of intelligence sources, including open-source information, documents gathered in the field, interrogations of military operatives by Israeli intelligence bodies and more." It adds: "Journalists are expected to report the unbiased truth. Yet these individuals concealed a fundamental truth about themselves."

The military's post on X that day said: "Today, we revealed the truth behind these so-called 'journalists'," as quoted by Israel Today. The list includes well-known names. Among them are Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, killed in August 2025, and Hossam Shabat, killed in March 2025.

What the investigation found

The Observers team at France 24 checked the 170 names against three groups. These were the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Its report was published on Monday.

It found three groups of names:

• 37 had been removed from at least one of the three lists, most often because the person had taken part in fighting.
• 44 had never appeared on any of the three lists.
• 89 were still counted as journalists by at least one of the three groups.

Removed by at least one group

37

Never on any of the three lists

44

Still listed by at least one group

89

Source: France 24 Observers, November 2, 2026

Show the numbers

Group	Names
Removed by at least one group	37
Never on any of the three lists	44
Still listed by at least one group	89

Most of the 37 removals followed death notices. Since spring 2026, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have posted tributes to their fallen fighters, France 24 said. Several dozen of those named had been counted as journalists. One example is Mohammad Jarghoun, killed on October 7, 2023. After a Hamas military wing tribute in June, both CPJ and RSF removed him. That happened before the military posted photos of him armed and in uniform.

For the 89 names still listed, France 24 said the military's evidence was thinner. In 38 cases, the military cited only "multiple intelligence sources." In 31 cases, it posted a screenshot of a document it says came from an armed group, without saying where or when the document was found. For 19 names, it posted photos or tributes. In one case, that of Ahmed Bakr Mahmoud Al-Louh, it did not name the type of source at all.

The report gave examples. Hamza Al-Dahdouh, an Al Jazeera journalist killed in January 2024, is still accused of membership in Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The claim rests on a document the military says dates from 2022. France 24 noted that two experts consulted by the BBC had disputed that document. It also cited a 2024 Washington Post investigation that challenged the military's account of the strike.

Asked by France 24, the Israeli military said its claims are based "on information gathered and analyzed by specialized authorities, including by cross-checking data from multiple sources." It added: "The information published about these journalists is based on reliable evidence indicating their affiliation with terrorist organizations and their involvement in activities carried out on their behalf." Quotes from France 24 are translated from French by 567politics.

Why the counts differ

The groups count different things. That is the main reason the totals are so far apart.

Shireen Observatory

332

Gaza government media office

263

Palestinian Journalists Syndicate

260

IFJ

203

CPJ

191

RSF

63

Source: France 24 Observers, Safa

Show the numbers

Organization	Killed
Shireen Observatory	332
Gaza government media office	263
Palestinian Journalists Syndicate	260
IFJ	203
CPJ	191
RSF	63

CPJ counted 191 Palestinian journalists killed by Israel in Gaza as of October 31, France 24 reported. The figure was cut in June and September. France 24 said CPJ removed 27 people after finding they took part in combat, and nine more after finding they were not journalists. CPJ's own casualties page lists the names it removed and why.

CPJ told France 24 that each case is "independently confirmed, using information from at least two reliable sources." Its methodology, as quoted by France 24, includes journalists at state-backed outlets and at outlets tied to armed groups, as long as they did not take part in fighting. Its wider count across Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Israel and Iran was 247 as of September 24, with 241 killed by Israel.

RSF counts only journalists killed while working. It lists 63. It told France 24 it removed five names over the summer after confirming links to armed groups. The October list did not change its count. "We take these allegations seriously. But after checking, we see nothing new," RSF said. "These are accusations we have already seen and already worked on."

IFJ works with the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate. It had counted 240 killed as of October 1. On October 14 it cut that to 203. France 24 said many of the 46 names it dropped were removed after October 1, but the IFJ said its own reviews were already under way.

"We remove a name in two cases," the IFJ said. One is when it cannot reliably confirm the person was a journalist. The other is when "credible evidence shows they took part directly in fighting." It said a claim "from a party to the conflict can be taken into account, but it is never enough on its own to remove a name from our list." The IFJ did not say how many of the people it dropped it considers fighters.

Gaza's government media office, which is run by Hamas, counted 263 as of October 1. The Shireen Observatory, a volunteer group, counted 332 media workers as of October 31. France 24 said that list still includes some people the international groups dropped because they fought.

What Palestinian press groups said on Monday

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate organized Monday's protest in Gaza, Safa reported. Protesters asked that journalists who need specialized care be allowed to leave the territory. They pointed to journalist Ammar Qudeih, who was in intensive care in Khan Younis after a cardiac arrest, according to Palestinian media reports.

The Palestinian Media Forum called ending impunity "a basic entry point" for justice and press freedom. It said "accusations against media workers do not, by themselves, justify targeting them," in Safa's summary. It asked for independent international inquiries, the release of detained journalists, and open access to Gaza for foreign media.

The syndicate said the lack of accountability "invariably deepens impunity and condones further crimes," according to a Qatar News Agency report carried by Fana. It called on the International Criminal Court to say what steps it has taken on complaints about crimes against Palestinian journalists. It also asked UNESCO to set up a committee to track efforts to hold those responsible to account.

Both groups welcomed a July 2026 report to the UN General Assembly by Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories. The syndicate uses the term "mediacide" from that report.

What UN experts said

A group of UN human rights experts issued a statement for the day, carried by WAFA. Citing UNESCO, they said more than 1,800 journalists were killed worldwide from 2006 to 2025, and that close to nine in ten of those killings remain unresolved by the courts.

The experts cited Albanese's report as documenting "nearly 300 journalists" killed by Israeli forces since October 2023 and more than 400 wounded. They said the report "identifies around 70 journalists allegedly killed in reprisal for their work."

"Gaza has demonstrated with devastating clarity why protecting journalists in armed conflict is inseparable from accountability," the experts said. "Their reporting, criticism or perceived political views do not make them legitimate military targets."

How each side describes the stakes

Israel's position is that a press vest can hide a fighter. Its page says the people it named "presented themselves as legitimate media professionals while serving terrorist organizations that regularly use propaganda and psychological warfare."

Supporters of that view say the press groups were slow to correct their lists. In a commentary, Israel Today, an Israel-based outlet, wrote that international groups "are now quietly revising their counts" after armed groups claimed many of those named as their own fighters.

The press groups say an accusation is not proof, and that most of the military's evidence cannot be checked. CPJ told France 24 that the claims are "based on intelligence sources without sufficient direct evidence." It said the military "has not provided credible evidence to support the allegation that these people took an active part in the fighting." CPJ is looking into seven of the profiles, five of them since before the Israeli list came out.

One Israeli open-source researcher who has tracked possible links between journalists and armed groups since 2025 gave a mixed view. Speaking to France 24, the person behind the X account Middle East Buka said spreadsheet screenshots could not be treated as proof "because I can't verify it." But the same researcher said an official death notice naming a military unit "is evidence of affiliation," though not necessarily of active duty at the time of death.

Even with the lowest counts, RSF said, "we are still seeing the largest massacre of journalists committed by any army in recent history."

The access problem

CPJ cites Israel's ban on foreign press access to Gaza as one reason checks are hard. "No one can leave the Gaza Strip without Israel's permission, and no one can get in," the IFJ told France 24. "We go to every conflict zone in the world, except Gaza."

The war's other disputes are also unresolved. Aid groups report a shelter crisis before winter; see our report on Gaza's fourth winter in tents. Questions over who governs Gaza remain open, as set out in our report on Gaza police deaths and the governance gap and on stalled diplomacy.

What remains unclear

• Whether CPJ's review of seven profiles will change its count.
• Whether the IFJ will say how many of the 46 names it dropped it considers fighters.
• Whether the International Criminal Court will answer the syndicate's request.
• Whether Israel will publish more detail on the 38 cases it backs only with "multiple intelligence sources."

About this report

This report draws on the Israeli military's Press Files page, CPJ's casualties page, and reporting by France 24, Safa, Fana (Qatar News Agency), WAFA and Israel Today, each opened in full. Quotes from France 24 are translated from French by 567politics. 567politics has not checked any individual case on the Israeli list. For how we report, see our methodology. For Israeli politics this week, see our report on Trump's remarks on U.S. aid to Israel.

Differing perspectives

How should journalists killed in Gaza be counted, and what should follow?

Each position is summarized as its supporters make it, with equal weight and in alphabetical order. A summary is not an endorsement; the evidence for each is weighed in the story above.

• Investigate, prosecute and open Gaza to the press

  Who holds it: Palestinian Journalists Syndicate and Palestinian Media Forum

  The groups say 260 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since October 2023 and that accusations against them do not justify targeting them. They call for independent international inquiries, prosecutions, the release of detained journalists, medical evacuations for the wounded and open access to Gaza for foreign media.

  In their words: Safa ↗

• Israel's attacks on the press must face accountability

  Who holds it: Committee to Protect Journalists

  CPJ says Israel is carrying out the deadliest and most deliberate effort to kill and silence journalists it has ever documented, and that Palestinian journalists are being threatened, targeted and detained. It also notes harassment by Hamas inside Gaza. It calls for Israel to be held to account and for foreign media to get immediate, independent access to Gaza.

  In their words: Committee to Protect Journalists ↗

• The Israeli list adds nothing new

  Who holds it: Reporters Without Borders (RSF)

  RSF, which counts only journalists killed while working, says it takes the claims seriously but found nothing new in the Israeli list after checking. It says it had already examined those accusations, removed five names over the summer, and that even the most conservative counts show the largest killing of journalists by any army in recent history.

  In their words: France 24 (RSF comments, in French) ↗

• Those named were fighters posing as journalists

  Who holds it: Israel Defense Forces

  The military says 170 people presented as journalists in Gaza were members of the armed wings of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other groups. It says its findings rest on open-source material, documents found in the field and interrogations, and that these people hid their roles while serving groups that, in its words, "regularly use propaganda and psychological warfare."

  In their words: IDF, The Press Files ↗