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Media Outlets Quietly Stop Referring to the Gaza Ministry of Health’s Hamas Affiliation
Hamas terrorists kidnapping Israeli women at the Nahal Oz base near the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023. Photo: Screenshot
In the days and weeks following Hamas’ October 7 massacre in southern Israel and the beginning of the Jewish State’s military response against the Gaza-based terror group, HonestReporting called out numerous media outlets for failing to inform their audiences that the Gaza Ministry of Health — a prime source for statistics on those killed and injured in Gaza — is run by Hamas.
Now, almost eight months later, it appears that some of these news organizations have reverted to ignoring the Gaza Ministry of Health’s affiliation with the terror group.
For a few weeks, @nytimes did the right thing and referred to the “Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.”
But it didn’t last long. Articles now appear to have reverted to type.
Because. New York Times. pic.twitter.com/msPocStlil
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) November 14, 2023
Following October 7, it took The New York Times more than a week before they started referring to the Gaza Ministry of Health as being “run” or “controlled” by Hamas.
They largely continued to use this terminology for months, until seemingly tapering off in March, appearing only once in April (in a guest essay by Israeli historian Benny Morris), and once in May.
A similar trend was observed with The Washington Post.
It took a couple of weeks into the war for the Post to refer to the Health Ministry as being run by Hamas (earlier articles published by the Post with this terminology were copies of articles by the Associated Press), and the last article to reference the control that the Gaza-based terror group holds over the Health Ministry was published on April 1.
Since then, any reference to the Gaza Ministry of Health or local health officials in The Washington Post is without the qualifying “Hamas-run” or “Hamas-controlled” terminology.
It also took CNN just under two weeks after the start of the war on October 7 to refer to the Gaza Ministry of Health as being under the control of Hamas.
The last CNN reference to the Health Ministry being “Hamas-run” was on April 6, 2024.
Why Does This Matter?
Global media organizations have relied on the casualty statistics released by the Gaza Ministry of Health during the war.
But failing to inform audiences of the affiliation with an internationally-recognized terror organization grants the Health Ministry an air of legitimacy and portrays it as an unbiased bureaucratic institution.
This, in turn, legitimizes the statistics being released by the Ministry, even though there is ample evidence that the Gazan health authorities skew the numbers in order to tarnish Israel’s reputation and harm the Jewish State’s campaign to uproot Hamas’ terror infrastructure from the Gaza Strip.
Alongside the fact that ignoring the Gaza Ministry of Health’s connection to Hamas is journalistic malpractice, what is even more concerning is the fact that The New York Times, The Washington Post, and CNN all used the terms “Hamas-run” and “Hamas-controlled” when reporting on the Ministry for several months.
This suggests that these three news organizations made an editorial decision to stop using this qualifying terminology when reporting on the latest statistics.
The seemingly intentional choice to obfuscate the Hamas affiliation of the Gaza Health Ministry not only does a disservice to the readership of these three news outlets, but it also calls into question the journalistic integrity of their coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Media Outlets Quietly Stop Referring to the Gaza Ministry of Health’s Hamas Affiliation first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – Iran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.
“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.
Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.
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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group
People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.
Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.
Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.
In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – Iranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.
“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.
The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.
In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.
“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.