Does independent journalism exist in Gaza?

[Twiglets1]

Opinion piece in the Jerusalem Post today arguing that there is no independent journalism in Gaza - "only Hamas operatives posing as reporters".

The article talks about the incident last Monday in which five journalists were killed in an Israeli strike on a hospital in Khan Yunis. Outlets such as Reuters, and Al Jazeera claimed to have lost reporters, yet as the article argues:

Hamas doesn’t tolerate independent reporting. Everyone knows it. The only question is why Western outlets keep pretending otherwise. The Committee to Protect Journalists – far from a Zionist mouthpiece – has published testimony from Gaza reporters who spoke of intimidation, threats, and beatings.

One veteran, Tawfiq Abu Jarad, got a phone call warning him not to cover an anti-Hamas protest. He obeyed because Hamas had already assaulted him once. Another crew was attacked by Hamas police while filming, and the matter was quietly “resolved” through clan mediation.

Most of Gaza’s “journalists” aren’t journalists at all. Independent investigators – most recently analyst Eitan Fischberger – have exposed the truth about those killed in Monday’s strike. They weren’t neutral reporters. They were part of Hamas’s machine.

Mohammed Salama of Al Jazeera was a terrorist who personally participated in the invasion of Israel on October 7.

Mariam Abu Daqqa of the Associated Press taught “journalism” courses for the Hamas “Information Ministry.”

Ahmed Abu Aziz celebrated the October 7 massacre on social media, calling it “the greatest day of our generation” while mourning his fellow Hamas fighters. Terrorists, operatives, regime mouthpieces – call them what you will, but don’t call them journalists.

This is not new. Open-source researchers like @MiddleEastBuka have documented dozens of cases where “journalists” killed in Gaza were praised in obituaries as “mujahideen” (jihadists).

Mohammad Abu Daqqa, labeled a journalist, was celebrated as a “heroic mujahid,” a jihadist warrior, with photos showing him holding a Kalashnikov.

Anas Abu Shamala, a member of Hamas’s elite Nukhba unit that led the atrocities of October 7, was still counted as a “freelance journalist.”

Then there is Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif. Abroad, he was lionized as a fearless correspondent. In Gaza, he posted a smiling selfie with Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of October 7. The list goes on and on. Hamas dresses up its operatives in press vests. Western media report them as martyrs of free expression.

www.jpost.com/opinion/article-865662

Has there been evidence put forward that Salama personally participated in October 7th. I have googled it but it just brings me back to this article but there appears to be no actual evidence.

Daqqa taught courses for the Palestinian Authority Information Ministry. Is that the same as working for Hamas. The only place I could find the evidence of this is on x.

There can’t be truly independent journalism in Gaza because they do not have freedom of press and aren’t free to criticise Hamas essentially. This is what happens under authoritarian regimes. That does not make every journalist a Hamas operative. Making that leap is an excuse to kill them.

I find it hard to believe that Hamas would not have controlled all news reporting by whatever means possible, so becoming an established reporter there must have involved deference to them if not active support.

Of course Israel has been accused of faking the photos of al-Sharif embracing Sinwar and attending meetings with Sinwar and his successor Khalil al-Hayya. His Telegram posts in support of 7 Oct have also been dismissed as trumped-up excuses to kill him.

I guess no one can verify the authentiticy of any photos coming out of anywhere in relation to this conflict.

I think the question should be how can anyone be expected to believe the Israeli government after the history of lie after lie?

Same can be said of Israeli journalists as they would all have done service for IDF. If 250 Israeli journalists had been killed in this conflict and I subsequently posted about the lack of independent journalism in Israel, i would be rightfully shamed.

I think there should be a wider question being asked.

Not just can we believe the Israeli government/IDF (many of you will say No) but also, can we believe the other side either? Do we really believe in our hearts that Hamas would tolerate truly independent journalism?

We don't see much criticism of Hamas actions coming out of Gaza and that's an understatement.

Surely in that case the correct question would be why would anyone believe anything coming out of Gaza or Israel at all if both sides are compromised because surely anyone under direct threat from Hamas in Gaza can’t be expected to report fairly and Israel just lies?

What are these Israeli government lies btw? I’m sure there are many as every government in history has lied and covered stuff up, but I’m interested to know which lies, specifically, make the Israeli government less believable that a terrorist organisation which depends on propaganda for it’s survival?

There is no independent journalism in Gaza because the only journalists in there are Palestinian. Ths is because Israel has refused to allow outside press to enter.

Realistically, how can Israel let independent journalists into Gaza, taking into account most media outlets have been quoting Hamas propaganda as facts, and if they’re not embedded with the IDF for protection, do you really think Hamas will let them get away with reporting anything which may destroy their narrative?

No independent journalism suits Hamas just as much as it does Israel!

What? Thats completely different to freedom of press. Yes the Israeli government lies. All governments lie.

However, there is freedom of the press. Have you heard of Haaretz? Frequently critical of Netanyahu. Yet to have their legs broken as a consequence.

Yet more false equivalence from you.

Journalists are not able to speak freely and criticize Hamas in Gaza.

Journalists are able to freely criticize the Israeli government in Israel.

What are these Israeli government lies btw? I’m sure there are many as every government in history has lied and covered stuff up, but I’m interested to know which lies, specifically, make the Israeli government less believable
@CaramelPecan

The aid workers in the ambulance murdered is the first one that comes to mind. The only reason that came to light was because of the video footage.

I agree with you about the Hamas intimidation. It has been documented and is a major issue https://cpj.org/2025/05/gaza-journalists-speak-out-about-hamas-intimidation-threats-assaults/ I think more than anything else we are not hearing about the atrocities that Hamas are committing against Palestinians themselves and about any dissenters fate. So in that respect all information coming from Gaza should be viewed through that lens.

I take issue with the article in the PP saying that all the journalists were Hamas. There seems to be no credible evidence put forward and it appears to be a policy that this idea is presented as fact to delegitamise all press.
https://www.972mag.com/israel-gaza-journalists-hamas-hasbara/

I don"t think all journalists are Hamas either. I think theres no choice in Gaza but to be seen to support Hamas. Who knows where peoples hearts lie? The ones who protest openly against Hamas are incredibly brave.

So no, I dont believe independent journalism is possible in Gaza.

I don't have time to list them all.

Most often it's a lie rather than the truth.

They lied about the murder of Shireen Abu Aklar.

Lies about a scan image of a hospital showing supposed tunnels legitimise uts bombing when it was from a school nearby and attributed to drainage channels.

Lies about UNWRA

Lies about the World Central Kitchen

The supposed evidence they found of Hamas that was just a calendar

Lies about not being near the car of Hind Rajab then sky news proved they were.

The 40 beheaded babies.

They have zero credibility for me.

Equivalence with Hamas is not relevant because I believe the purpose of this thread is to legitimise or excuse the murder of those Palestinian journalists. But for the obligatory comment, yes hamas bad and their murders not to be justified.

I agree with that and think that anyone who is a journalist is very brave. Attempting to smear them all as Hamas is terrible and this article about freedom of the press is ironically repeated uncredited information from social media.

It doesn't mean though that everything coming out of Gaza is a lie. There is still horrific atrocities being committed on the Palestinian people we are just only hearing about Israel ones and not Hamas actions.

I don't think the article I quoted says that all the journalists on Monday were Hamas. The title is clickbait but it is basically arguing that there are no independent journalists in Gaza (& some of the journalists are linked to Hamas).

Actually I recently listened to a compelling testimony from a US journalist arrested by Israel and blindfolded, intimidated and held in solitary confinement.

It seems 43 other Palestinian journalists also detained.

So much for their press freedom.

https://freedom.press/issues/israels-detainment-of-reporters-must-stop/

It is false equivalence because there is no equivalent to the murder of 250 journalists in Gaza.

Nevertheless there is a big difference in that journalists in Israel media such as Times of Israel do commonly post negative things about Israel, whereas the same cannot be said of media outlets like Al Jazeera (especially the Arabic version apparently) which don't often - if ever - make negative comments about Hamas.

I agree anyone attempting to report what's going on in Gaza is very brave. Reporting anything, or even spending time with reporters is a target on your back.

Tbh I don't often focus on individual stories as I believe truth is one of the first casualties of war. Both sides will be lying. Frequently. Atrocities will be taking place, also frequently. I don't believe the truth will out til after the war, perhaps not even then.

I agree, Israeli press such as Times of Israel or Haaretz often appears more balanced than most UK mainstream media.

But I don't think you could use things like previous IDF service or a photo with Netanyahu as justification for the killing of Israeli journalists. I know that this thread isn't explicitly justifying their murder but it seems implied given the context.

Yes the ToI does seem quite balanced - more so than UK mainstream media, maybe surprisingly.

No, you certainly couldnt use a BN selfie or IDF service as an excuse for killing an Israeli journalist because BN and the IDF are not terrorists.

For goodness sake Tulip! Theres no equivalence! Hamas are a terrorist organization who've murdered, taken hostages in the most despicable way. Theyve also done nothing for their own people. Worse than nothing, they've bought utter destruction and unfathomable suffering on their own people.

BN and the IDF are a legitimate government and a national army. Some are shits. Some of their policies have been terrible. They are most definitely not beyond criticism. But they are not terrorists.

Soon you'll be telling us Israel has taken hostages, and the IDF are acting like Nazis.

Stop with the false equivalence please!

But many of the things on your list are not "Israeli lies"?

For example, UNWRA is known to have been infiltrated by Hamas, and the World Central Kitchen acknowledged that their workers were put in danger because Hamas had been known to impersonate them.

But most of all, we've discussed the "40 beheaded babies" on these threads before, and unless you somehow missed all that, I really object to you listing it here. This was not "Israeli lies" but media confusion in the immediate aftermath of the 7/10 attacks, when deeply traumatised ZAKA volunteers were asked to describe what they'd seen at a time when everyone was still struggling to work out who was missing and what had happened to the victims based on what was left of them. A stack of charred remains with missing heads was misinterpreted, but the Tel Aviv pathologist later explained to the world press that bodies reduce in size when burned (so a teenage or adult body would look like that of a child), and that they would never know whether the heads had been removed by force or had fallen off when burned. (This is quite a common thing to happen when a body is burned.)

Grrrr, I hope that's the last time I have to type this fucking horrific gruesome information just to counter accusations of Hasbara.

I would imagine some are. But I don't think there is evidence for some of the ones mentioned in the article.

It takes a very valid argument but hinges it on information that is unproven .

I can’t see that any of what you’ve listed are evidence of Israeli government lies. From what I’ve seen if a mistake is made, it is investigated and owned up to.

What lies have they told about UNWRA and the WCK?

As for the 40 beheaded babies, is there evidence of the Israeli government actually stating that directly as from this article it wasn’t confirmed and Netanyahu stated there had been beheadings without clarifying whether adult or child.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/12/middleeast/israel-hamas-beheading-claims-intl

There is no doubt there were beheadings on Oct 7th, There are videos showing at least 3 taken by Hamas that I have seen myself. The first responders said they saw beheaded children (around 40 children were murdered on Oct 7th which could account for the misinformation) and there is nothing to say that is not true, could have even been from alternate means than a garden hoe or knife, like a grenade, RPG, gun etc.

Israel has not released a lot of footage from Oct 7th for obvious reasons and family permissions.

They have only just released the footage of the father being blown up by a grenade in front of his young sons, who he saved by throwing himself on it, and showing a terrorist in their home helping himself to a drink from their fridge while they are injured and in great distress, and one looks to be covered in their father’s blood.