Foreign press group urges vigilance after IDF shares altered image of Lebanese journalist killed in strike

By Stav Levaton

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15 April 2026, 11:02 am

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Stav Levaton is a military reporter for The Times of Israel

The Foreign Press Association is urging journalists to be “vigilant in accepting handout materials” from the IDF “at face value,” after the military circulated a digitally manipulated image of a Lebanese journalist it killed in an airstrike after alleging he was a Hezbollah operative.

On March 28, the IDF published an image of Hezbollah-affiliated journalist Ali Shoeib, showing him split between two depictions: one unedited, in a press vest, and another altered to show him in Hezbollah uniform. The military said he had been targeted as a Radwan Force operative acting “under the guise of a journalist.”

????ELIMINATED: For years, Ali Hassan Shaib operated as a Hezbollah Radwan Force terrorist under the guise of a journalist.

Turns out the “press vest” was just a cover for terror. pic.twitter.com/24F7MJ3Yth

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 28, 2026

“This image turned out to be fake,” the FPA says in a statement, adding that it was intended to “discredit” Shoeib, who was killed alongside two other journalists.

“During the recent wars, it has been common practice by the Israeli military to discredit journalists and sow doubt by releasing inaccurate information and raising allegations without providing clear evidence,” the group adds.

A day after the edited image was published, the IDF released what appeared to be an unaltered image of Shoeib in military attire, standing near a tank.

Ali Shaib was officially recruited as a member of Hezbollah’s military wing in 2020, but in practice had been cooperating with the terrorist organization since 2013. His role in the intelligence unit was to film intelligence information and transfer it to the Radwan Force, all… pic.twitter.com/Y0IWDov1CW

— LTC Nadav Shoshani (@LTC_Shoshani) March 29, 2026

Israel has faced repeated accusations of targeting journalists since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack, particularly in Gaza, where foreign press has been barred from entering since the war began.

The IDF has consistently denied the allegations, saying it takes steps to minimize civilian harm while maintaining that some journalists killed in strikes were affiliated with terror groups.