Airstrike targets, injures Gaza photographer who entered Israel with terrorists on Oct. 7
IDF says Hassan Eslaiah, who took pictures of Nir Oz invasion and burning tank for AP, is a Hamas operative; attack on Khan Younis press tent reportedly kills other reporter
A photographer who entered Israel with invading Hamas-led terrorists on October 7 was targeted in an airstrike on a tent near a hospital in southern Gaza, Israel said Monday, accusing the man of being a member of the terror group operating under journalistic cover.
Hassan Eslaiah was wounded in the strike outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, according to Alam24, the Palestinian news agency he heads. Another journalist, Palestine Today reporter Helmy al-Faqawi, was killed in the strike, according to the hospital, and at least five others were reported injured.
According to the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet security service, Eslaiah was a member of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade and was operating “under the guise of a journalist and owner of a press company.”
Eslaiah, whose freelance photography was distributed around the world for the Associated Press, entered Israel during the October 7, 2023, massacre, photographing Gazans, some of them armed, as they stormed Kibbutz Nir Oz, where a quarter of the population was slaughtered or kidnapped, including the elderly and children as young as nine months old.
He also took a picture of Gazans atop a burning tank next to the destroyed Gaza border fence. A video from the scene posted to social media but since deleted showed him next to the tank, though no press credentials could be seen on him.
“During the massacre, he documented and uploaded footage of looting, arson, and murder to social media,” the IDF said in a statement announcing the strike Monday.
Both the AP and CNN said in November 2023 that they had severed their relationship with Eslaiah after a pro-Israel watchdog raised questions about their work with the photographer and other journalists who entered Israel during the massacre.
His pictures from that day were removed from the Associated Press’s distribution feed, though others remain.
The agency has denied that Eslaiah and other Gazan journalists it worked with who entered Israel during the attack had any advance knowledge of the attack.
The report by the Honest Reporting monitoring group had also raised questions about Eslaiah’s relationship with Hamas, reproducing a since-deleted photo posted by him in 2020 showing the terror group’s chief, Yahya Sinwar, embracing him and kissing his cheek.
According to Palestinian reports, the tent that was struck by Israel in the early morning strike was used by Gazan journalists as a makeshift press center.
In the hours following our expose, new material is still coming to light concerning Gazan freelance journalist Hassan Eslaiah whom both AP & CNN used on Oct. 7.
Here he is pictured with Hamas leader and mastermind of the Oct. 7 massacre, Yahya Sinwar. https://t.co/S9pXeIGaFq pic.twitter.com/RmEZU5RsM8
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) November 8, 2023
Footage showed people trying to douse flames in the tent following strike.
Reuters was able to verify the video from the position, layout and design of nearby buildings and tents. The date could be verified by media reports and corroborating videos.
One widely shared but unverified video appeared to show a journalist in flames as others tried to rescue him.
The military said it took steps to mitigate harm to civilians in the strike.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate claimed that Faqawi was the 210th journalist killed by Israel since it began attacking Hamas in Gaza following the October 7 attack, in which Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 more; 59 hostages remain in Gaza, over half of whom are believed to have been killed.
Israel has repeatedly alleged that journalists killed in strikes were actually terror operatives who posed as reporters; it maintains that Hamas uses hospitals, schools, shelters and aid infrastructure as cover for terror activities.
The Palestinian Authority condemned Faqawi’s death as an act of “extra-judicial killing” aimed at scaring off reporters and stopping media coverage.
Hamas-controlled health authorities in the Strip claimed at least 20 Gazans were killed in Israeli strikes since Sunday night. The figure could not be confirmed.
In central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital reported that eight people were killed in strikes Monday.
There was no Israeli comment on the attacks, which came after the IDF warned civilians in the area to flee following the launch of 10 rockets from there into southern Israel, in the largest such barrage since fighting resumed last month following a two-month ceasefire that saw 33 hostages released.
A 30-year-old man was lightly injured by shrapnel in the attack, which also caused property damage in the southern city of Ashkelon.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said he had ordered the IDF to expand its renewed offensive against Hamas following the attack.
The IDF has stepped up its offensive in Gaza in recent days, saying it is ratcheting up pressure on Hamas to release the hostages and cede power.
The enclave’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its unverified figures, has said that more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18.
The Times of Israel Community.