The British Broadcasting Corporation is reviewing a list of 53 “journalists” killed while reporting on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza to determine whether some had ties to terrorist organizations, according to a report published this week by the British newspaper The Telegraph. The review was reportedly prompted in part by the fact that Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations declared some of the individuals to be “martyrs” after their deaths.
BBC Arabic maintained a running tally of individuals it described as “journalists” who were killed while “reporting on the war in Gaza” following the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7, 2023. The list continued to be updated until August 2025, when it contained more than 180 names, according to The Telegraph.
Of the 53 individuals reportedly claimed by terrorist organizations as “martyrs,” 10 were identified as journalists by both BBC Arabic and the English-language BBC, while the remaining 43 were listed as “journalists” only by BBC Arabic. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a U.S.-based organization that advocates for journalists working in conflict zones, has removed 12 of the names from its own list of journalist casualties.
According to The Telegraph, CPJ removed the names after reviewing evidence that some of the individuals were openly affiliated with terrorist organizations and that some had participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. One of those individuals was Abdullah Darwish, whom BBC Arabic described as a cameraman for Al-Aqsa TV.
According to the Telegraph, CPJ found photographs of Darwish wearing a uniform associated with Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades, along with information indicating that he participated in the Oct. 7 attacks. Another individual removed from the CPJ list was Yaqoub Al-Barsh, whom BBC Arabic described as the executive director of Namaa radio. According to the report, evidence also identified him as an active member