When Hamas terrorists began their murderous assault against Israel on the morning of Oct. 7, international news wire services like Reuters and Associated Press almost immediately began to publish pictures of the invasion.
According to a report by the investigative website HonestReporting published on Wednesday, this wasn't just a case of dumb luck – instead, freelance journalists from inside Gaza accompanied the terrorists on their rampage and may have been informed of it beforehand.
This is how media companies like Reuters, AP, The New York Times, and CNN could publish pictures of burning IDF tanks, crowds of Gazan civilians breaking into Kibbutzim, and Israeli citizens being kidnapped almost in real-time.
For example, Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa, a freelancer working with Reuters, just happened to be on the scene to take a picture of an Israeli soldier being dragged out of a tank and lynched. The photo was even chosen as one of the "Images of the Day" in the Reuters database.
Hassan Eslaiah, a photographer working with AP, took a picture of himself in front of a destroyed IDF tank inside Israel, writing on social media platform X in a since-deleted tweet: "Live from inside the Gaza Strip settlements."
Shortly after HonestReporting's account was published, an older picture of Eslaiah being kissed by Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar surfaced.
Yousef Masoud, who worked with the NYT and AP, captured photos of several Israelis being kidnapped, among them German-Israeli Shani Louk, who was confirmed to have been murdered.
AP later removed some of the names from the photo credits in their database, in a possible attempt to cover up their journalistic malpractice.
"Is it conceivable to assume that 'journalists' just happened to appear early in the morning at the border without prior coordination with the terrorists? Or were they part of the plan?" the report asked.
The investigation done by HonestReporting raises serious questions about the possible knowledge the media outlets had of the attack, either beforehand or very early in the day.
As the outlets received the pictures soon after they were captured by the freelancers, some communication between them and the media outlets must have occurred.
In addition, apparent ties the freelancers had to the terror government of Hamas didn't stop them from finding employment with some of the most prestigious media companies in the world.
These facts also shed new light on attempted Hamas hoaxes like the alleged attack on the al-Ahli hospital and generally call into question the accuracy of international media reports from inside the Gaza Strip since Hamas took control of it in 2006.
Minister Benny Gantz reacted to the report on his account on X.
"Journalists found to have known about the massacre, and still chose to stand as idle bystanders while children were slaughtered – are no different than terrorists and should be treated as such," he said.
CNN decided to suspend its ties with Hassan Eslaiah following the report, but emphasized that "we have not at this time found reason to doubt the journalistic accuracy of the work he has done for us."
AP responded to the report by stating, "The Associated Press had no knowledge of the Oct. 7 attacks before they happened. The role of the AP is to gather information on breaking news events around the world, wherever they happen, even when those events are horrific and cause mass casualties. AP uses images taken by freelancers around the world, including in Gaza."
Republished with permission from All Israel News.