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.

i24 News – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has named Minouche Shafik, former president of Columbia University, as his chief economic adviser at Downing Street, a move aimed at stabilizing the country’s fragile economy and averting a potential budget crisis.

Shafik, an economist of Egyptian origin with dual British and American nationality, has held senior roles at the Bank of England, the IMF, and the World Bank.

She later led the London School of Economics and was elevated to the House of Lords in 2020.

Her tenure in the United States was more turbulent. Shafik stepped down as president of Columbia University in 2024 after just a year in office, amid fierce criticism over her handling of pro-Palestinian protests following the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza.

US officials accused her of failing to confront antisemitism on campus, while students and faculty condemned her decision to call in police to dismantle protest encampments.

Since returning to Britain, Shafik has played an active role in policy and cultural institutions. She advised Foreign Secretary David Lammy on international aid reform, has chaired the Victoria & Albert Museum since January, and led the “Economy 2030” inquiry for the Resolution Foundation, where she argued for reforms to the UK’s system of wealth taxation.

Israel is considering annexation in the West Bank as a possible response to France and other countries recognizing a Palestinian state, according to three Israeli officials and the idea will be discussed further on Sunday, another official said.

Extension of Israeli sovereignty to the West Bank – de facto annexation of land captured in the 1967 Middle East war – was on the agenda for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet meeting late on Sunday that is expected to focus on the Gaza war, a member of the small circle of ministers said.

It is unclear where precisely any such measure would be applied and when, whether only in Israeli settlements or some of them, or in specific areas of the West Bank like the Jordan Valley and whether any concrete steps, which would likely entail a lengthy legislative process, would follow discussions.

Any step toward annexation in the West Bank would likely draw widespread condemnation from the Palestinians, who seek the territory for a future state, as well as Arab and Western countries. It is unclear where US President Donald Trump stands on the matter. The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar did not respond to a request for comment on whether Saar had discussed the move with his US counterpart Marco Rubio during his visit to Washington last week.

Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the prime minister supports annexation and if so, where.

A past pledge by Netanyahu to annex Jewish settlements and the Jordan Valley was scrapped in 2020 in favor of normalizing ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in the Abraham Accords brokered by Trump in his first term in office.

The office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The United States said on Friday it would not allow Abbas to travel to New York for the United Nations gathering of world leaders, where several US allies are set to recognize Palestine as a state.