Israel Targets Terrorists, Not Journalists — But Media Ignores the Facts

Five journalists were tragically killed last week in an Israeli strike aimed at Hamas infrastructure located inside a Gaza hospital. But global media decried their deaths as a targeted Israeli campaign against media workers in the enclave.

The media’s knee-jerk reaction omitted the necessary background that would have ruined their attempt to demonize Israel and glorify the victims.

Even though the IDF did not deliberately target these journalists, no media outlet thought to mention that one of those wounded in the strike was Mohammed Fayq abu Mostafa — a former Reuters contractor who infiltrated into Israel and urged Gazans to cross the border during Hamas’ massacre on October 7, 2023.

Similarly, there was no mention that one of the dead journalists, Ahmed Abu Aziz, celebrated Oct. 7 as “the greatest day of our generation.”

And no outlet mentioned that where Israel had targeted so-called journalists in Gaza, it was because they were, in fact, Hamas terrorists in disguise.

Below is a short list of some of these omitted stories — not as justification for the deaths of those who tried to do their job professionally, but as a reminder to media outlets that chose to hide the full picture from their audience.

Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa

Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa was fired from Reuters in January 2024 after HonestReporting exposed his social media call on Gazans to infiltrate the Jewish state on October 7.

He also boasted that he was with Hamas in the Israeli town of Sderot that day and documented the lynching of an Israeli soldier.

After detailing the atrocities, he encouraged others in Gaza to do the same. pic.twitter.com/H2oB3hXNFa

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) August 27, 2025

His injury this week at Nasser hospital was not the first. He was wounded last May in a strike on the same hospital that targeted and killed his colleague Hassan Eslaiah.

Hassan Eslaiah

In November 2023, HonestReporting exposed that Hassan Eslaiah, then a freelancer for AP and CNN, had infiltrated Israel on October 7, 2023. This revelation also brought to light a cozy photo of Eslaiah with former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the massacre.

Eslaiah entered Israeli Kibbutzim with Hamas and photographed the mutilated bodies of Israelis on the blood-stained floors of burned safety rooms.

After his targeting, the IDF provided proof that he was actually a Hamas terrorist in disguise.

EXCLUSIVE INTELLIGENCE UNCOVERED : Documents recovered by the IDF from inside Gaza reveal a list of operatives in Hamas’ Khan Yunis 3rd Battalion. Among them, Hassan Aslih, listed by name, military number, and unit: the so-called “Media Platoon”.

Aslih was a Hamas operative… pic.twitter.com/BJHTZ9jfTu

— LTC Nadav Shoshani (@LTC_Shoshani) May 18, 2025

Anas Al Sharif

Earlier this month, Israel targeted Al Jazeera reporter in Gaza, Anas al Sharif.

Almost all foreign media outlets mourned his death, while doubting or altogether omitting hard evidence presented by the IDF proving that he was a commander of a terrorist cell in a Hamas guided rockets platoon.

 

Abdalla al Jamal

Al Jazeera “journalist” Abdallah Al Jamal was killed when Israeli forces entered his Gaza apartment, where he held three Israelis hostage.

Al Jamal also wrote articles for the US-based Palestine Chronicle newspaper and worked for the Hamas Ministry of Labor.

Foreign media outlets ignored his story.

Other Al Jazeera Journalists

Throughout the war, the IDF has targeted several Al Jazeera journalists who were in fact Hamas operatives. The army provided ample evidence of their terrorist activity, but their names still appear on the website of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Some of them are Mustafa Thuria, Hamza al Dahduh, Ismail Abu Omar, Ismail al Ghoul, and Hamza Murtaja.

Despite the evidence, media outlets decried their deaths and cast doubt on Israel’s proven claims.

Muthana Al Najjar

Muthana Al Najjar is an independent journalist whose dispatch from inside Israel on October 7 shocked the nation.

Al Najjar was in Kibbutz Nahal Oz and documented the cruel abduction of Shiri Bibas and her two sons, Kfir and Ariel, into Gaza.

His work was celebrated by The New York Times.

The list above is partial. Many journalists in Gaza have Hamas ties, at best, or, at worst, work for Hamas.

Media outlets that are quick to falsely blame Israel for “the deadliest conflict for journalists ever recorded” ignore the facts and play into the hands of Hamas, which uses the sacred title of journalism as a cover for terrorism.

HonestReporting is a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.