Israeli unit was tasked with falsely linking journalists in Gaza to Hamas, says report

A special unit in Israel's military was tasked with identifying reporters it could smear as undercover Hamas fighters, to target them and to blunt international outrage over the killing of media workers, the Israeli-Palestinian website +972 Magazine has reported.

- Emma Graham-Harrison

The "legitimisation cell" was set up after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack to gather information that could bolster Israel's image and shore up diplomatic and military support from key allies, the report said, citing three intelligence sources.

According to the report, in at least one case the unit misrepresented information in order to falsely describe a journalist as a militant, a designation that in Gaza is effectively a death sentence. The label was reversed before the man was attacked, one of the sources said.

Last Sunday, Israel killed the Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif and three colleagues in their makeshift newsroom, after claiming Sharif was a Hamas commander.

The killings focused global attention on the extreme dangers faced by Palestinian journalists in Gaza and Israel's efforts to manipulate media coverage of the war. Foreign reporters have been barred from entering Gaza apart from a few brief and tightly controlled trips with the Israeli military, who impose restrictions including a bar on speaking to Palestinians.