Around five dozen individuals, some associated with Hamas and collectively boasting more than 100 million social media followers, have been waging a propaganda campaign against Israel on various social media platforms since the start of the Swords of Iron war on October 7.

These influencers, who identify as independent journalists, are often seen sporting blue press vests and helmets. They have also reportedly found refuge in Al-Shifa hospital, which the IDF recently disclosed serves as a Hamas command and control center, providing them with access to electricity and the internet.

While these individuals may appear to be speaking independently, they effectively act as the mouthpiece for the terrorist organization. Furthermore, they frequently feature in interviews and are quoted in mainstream media, causing their lies to spread.

The Jerusalem Post has located some of these influencers through inside and open sources. It plans to reveal their identities in the coming weeks.

Here are some examples:

Plestia Alaqad (Instagram handle @byplestia) has more than a million followers and calls herself an independent journalist but spread the lie on Instagram and in an interview with British TV that Israel bombed the Al-Ahli Hospital and killed more than 1,000 people.

“Yesterday, a complete massacre happened,” she said of the missile, which was quickly proven to be a misfired Islamic Jihad rocket and not connected to Israel at all. “Around 1,000 civilians were killed and martyred.”

Fewer than 50 people were killed in the incident, according to international independent investigations.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Plestia Alaqad | بلستيا العقاد (@byplestia)

“It’s a genocide, literally a genocide, not a massacre,” she told Britain’s GB News. She threw out several numbers of people dead, including 10 journalists at the time, which the station noted could not be verified.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Plestia Alaqad | بلستيا العقاد (@byplestia)

In her posts, she has not provided any explanation for the commencement of the airstrikes on Gaza – namely, the October 7 massacre.

Another influential figure is Bisan Ouda (known as @wizard_bisan1 on Instagram), who presents herself as a filmmaker hailing from Gaza, Palestine, with a substantial following numbering in the hundreds of thousands. She maintains an active presence on platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, as well. Notably, her posts receive endorsements from well-known figures associated with antisemitism and conspiracy theories, including Shaun King, who called on his 5 million Instagram followers to “please listen to @wizard_bisan1 and follow her. She’s on the ground in Gaza now. And needs to be a household name.” Shaun King shares a post by Bisan Ouda on Instagram (credit: screenshot)

Following the October 7 massacre, she posted a note in Arabic on social media:

“For every action, there is a reaction. This means: What was expected after 75 years of occupation and 17 years of siege? … What was expected of us? … Would the families of the prisoners remain silent?”

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bisan’8 – حكواتية (@wizard_bisan1)

Ouda has been quoted as “an ambassador of goodwill” on ABC News, and she has been interviewed and legitimized on the BBC, to cite a couple of examples.

Like Alaqad, Ouda also helped spread the lie about Al-Ahli Hospital: “800 people were killed in one airstrike in Gaza,” she said in a video. “The Israeli army was not willing to evacuate them, and they killed them inside the hospital.” She also said that the humanitarian corridor “was a trap” and that Israel was killing people who fled to the south.

Many media watchdogs and Israeli activists have written about Hind Khoudary (@hindkhoudary), a self-proscribed journalist. HonestReporting recently revealed that Khoudary, who has been quoted by the Washington Post, Associated Press, and others, turned a group of Palestinian peace activists over to Hamas, which led to their arrest.

“In 2020, activists from the Gaza Youth Committee took part in a Zoom conference with a group of Israeli campaigners in which they discussed their daily lives and expressed their hopes for better Israeli and Palestinian leadership,” HonestReporting said. “Khoudary informed Hamas of the meeting, and all six members of the Gaza Youth Committee who participated, including its founder Rami Aman, were arrested on charges of ‘treason’ and ‘normalization’ of relations with the Jewish state.”

‘It wasn’t journalism’

Among the people arrested was Manar al-Sharif, who gave an interview to the Post in December 2021. She spent three months in a women’s prison in solitary confinement.

Sharif had moved to Gaza from Egypt in 2017 to study journalism, but had told the Post at the time that she dropped out after only a few months, appalled by what she called the “Hamas propaganda” that was infused in the school. She said the university was full of Islamism and that they used the school to recruit members.

“It wasn’t professional and it wasn’t journalism,” Sharif said.

Another example is Abdallah Alattar, who filled his Telegram channel from October 7 with pictures and videos of Hamas infiltrating Israel, including several that look like original footage. His profile image shows him with a press vest and a camera.

In one post he writes, “Watch: Shows Al-Qassam fighters killing and capturing occupation officers and soldiers at the Erez military site in the northern Gaza Strip.” In another, “Zionists killed by Palestinian resistance bullets in the Sderot settlement.”

There is also Ahmed Hijazi (@ahmedhijazee2), with a substantial following of 2 million. On October 7, he shared a video of what appears to be an armed Hamas group returning in a jeep from the attack in southern Israel, accompanied by the caption, “These are the men of Gaza,” and a heart emoji. The post received more than 200,000 likes.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ahmed Hijazi الحاجز (@ahmedhijazee)

A source in the know told the Post that a high percentage of these so-called journalists have been discovered to be working for Hamas and given amenities to do their jobs, such as a car and a driver, internet and shelter in Al-Shifa.

Their work is also being monitored by the terrorist organization to ensure they share Hamas’s version of events in Gaza. In addition, they serve as a megaphone for Hamas, such as calling on the people not to head down south as Israel requested to ensure their safety but instead claiming the request was trap and they would be killed on the way.

Hamas reportedly asked its followers to stay in northern Gaza so it can use them as human shields.

This is a developing story.

The IDF carried out a targeted strike on terrorists from the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization who were operating under the guise of journalists on Thursday, the army confirmed on Saturday.

The terrorists were operating from a command and control compound in the courtyard of the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in the Gaza City area, the IDF stated.

The Jihadists used the compound to plan and execute terror activities against IDF troops and Israeli civilians.

“The terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip continue to use hospitals for terrorist purposes, cynically and cruelly exploiting the civilian population inside the hospital and its surroundings,” the IDF concluded. Advertisement

Earlier on Saturday, the Israeli army also announced that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s commander of its Jenin Battalion in the West Bank was arrested, alongside two other individuals, during an IDF special forces operation on Friday night near Jenin. IDF soldiers in Khan Yunis in Gaza, in July 2024. (credit: FLASH90)

IDF strikes Gaza currency exchange office linked to Hamas, PIJ funding

In recent weeks, the IDF struck the “Al-Cairo” currency exchange office in Gaza City, citing the facility’s long-standing role in financing terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the military announced on Friday.

According to the IDF, the exchange office has been used in recent years to store and transfer tens of millions of dollars that directly supported the operations of these terror groups.

The IDF revealed Monday the identities of two civilians who allowed the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement to launch rockets from their private property which fell within the Gaza Strip during Operation Breaking Dawn.

On August 7, a rocket was fired from a plot of land that belongs to the Gaza City municipality, headed by Yahya Saraj, and fell next to a clinic in Jabalia, killing two Palestinians.

“He chose to care more for the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization than the residents of the city that he heads, and took advantage of the civil arena that belongs to the residents of the city in order to carry out terrorism – thus harming his citizens directly,” said the IDF.

Another rocket which fell within the Gaza Strip was fired from property belonging to Bakr Hamadan Imran Shamalh, whose brother is a trainer in Islamic Jihad’s naval force. The rocket fired from the property hit a civilian building in Gaza City and was seen on a live broadcast from the Al-Mayadeen channel. Advertisement

PIJ Rocket Misfires, Lands in Gaza Neighborhood During Live Mayadeen TV Broadcast – Reporter Claims It Was Launched Towards the Sea, Asks Cameraman to Turn Camera Away pic.twitter.com/S9GwFmSs6L — MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) August 8, 2022

Rockets are fired toward Israel from Rafah, in the Gaza Strip, on August 7, 2022. (credit: ABED RAHIM KHATIB/FLASH90)

“The family of Hamadan Imran Shamalh took an active part in the operation of terrorism while allowing the shooting from their home and thus harming Gaza’s civilian space as well,” added the IDF. “The terrorist organizations in Gaza cynically exploit the citizens of the Gaza Strip and launch rockets from the civilian space, this is further proof of this.”

More Palestinian civilians killed by Islamic Jihad rockets than by Israeli strikes

The IDF stated shortly after Operation Breaking Dawn that more civilians were killed by Islamic Jihad rockets than by Israeli strikes, as a large number of the rockets fell within the Strip.

תיעוד הירי הרקטי הכושל של גא״פ בג׳אבליה: pic.twitter.com/wfiOsQ3l3c — צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) August 7, 2022

Shortly after civilian casualties were reported in an explosion in Jabalia on the second day of the operation, the IDF published video it said showed the failed rocket launch which led to the civilian casualties. Palestinian media claimed that the explosion was caused by an Israeli strike.

In mid-August, Haaretz reported that an IDF inquiry had found that a second incident of civilian casualties which happened a day afterwards in Jabalia was caused by an Israeli strike, despite earlier statements claiming that these deaths were also caused by a failed rocket launch. Advertisement

Last year, after Operation Guardian of the Walls, Human Rights Watch reported that munitions that misfired and fell short killed and injured an “undetermined number” of Palestinians in Gaza.

“Palestinian armed groups during the May fighting flagrantly violated the laws-of-war prohibition on indiscriminate attacks by launching thousands of unguided rockets toward Israeli cities,” said Eric Goldstein, acting Middle East and North Africa director at HRW.

There were 4,360 unguided rockets and mortars fired by Palestinian terror groups toward Israel during the operation last year, killing 12 civilians and injuring several hundred people. HRW stated that Hamas authorities should stop unlawful rocket attacks toward Israeli population centers.

The HRW report added that Palestinian terror groups have fired unguided rockets in past rounds of fighting as well.

HRW recommended that the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) include unlawful Palestinian rocket attacks against Israel, as well as unlawful Israeli attacks in Gaza, in its war crimes probe against Israel and Hamas.

Press Freedom groups condemn Israel’s targeted killing of two journalists.

Israel Defense Forces has confirmed it killed Hossam Shabat and Mohammed Mansour, claiming they were terrorists

Mohammed Mansour’s father and other relatives mourn after the journalist was killed in an airstrike on his home in Khan Younis. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Press freedom organisations have condemned the killing of two journalists in Gaza on Monday, who died in separate targeted airstrikes by the Israeli armed forces.

Hossam Shabat, a 23-year-old correspondent for the Al Jazeera Mubasher channel, was killed by an Israeli airstrike on his car in the eastern part of Beit Lahiya.

Hossam Shabat, 23, an Al Jazeera correspondent, was killed by an airstrike on his car near Beit Lahiya. Photograph: Handout

Video reportedly from minutes after the airstrike, which has not been verified by the Guardian, shows people gathering around the shattered and smoking car and pulling a body out of the wreckage.

Mohammed Mansour, a correspondent for Palestine Today, was also killed on Monday, reportedly along with his wife and son, in an Israeli airstrike on his home in south Khan Younis.

In the hours after the deaths, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Palestinian press freedom organisations released statements condemning the attacks.

Mohammed Mansour, a correspondent for Palestine Today, who was killed on Monday in an airstrike on his home. Photograph: Handout

“CPJ is appalled that we are once again seeing Palestinians weeping over the bodies of dead journalists in Gaza ,” said Carlos Martínez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director.

“This nightmare in Gaza has to end. The international community must act fast to ensure that journalists are kept safe and hold Israel to account for the deaths of Hossam Shabat and Mohammed Mansour. Journalists are civilians and it is illegal to attack them in a war zone.”

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed it had targeted and killed Shabat and Mansour and labelled them as terrorists. The IDF said it had “eliminated the terrorist Hossam Basel Abdul Karim Shabat, a sniper terrorist from the Beit Hanoun Battalion of the Hamas terrorist organisation, who cynically posed as an Al Jazeera journalist.”

The IDF said it had documentation exposing Shabat’s “direct affiliation with the military wing of the Hamas terrorist organisation”.

The IDF also said that it had struck Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists in Khan Younis, where Mohammed Mansour was killed.

In October 2024, the IDF had accused Shabat and five other Palestinian journalists working for Al Jazeera in Gaza of being members of the militant arm of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Al Jazeera and Shabat denied Israel’s claims, with Shabat stating in an interview with the CPJ that “we are civilians … Our only crime is that we convey the image and the truth.”

The CPJ has previously denounced the Israeli authorities for the “smearing of killed Palestinian journalists with unsubstantiated ‘terrorist’ labels”.

In its statement condemning the deaths of Shabat and Mansour, the CPJ again called on Israel to “stop making unsubstantiated allegations to justify its killing and mistreatment of members of the press”.

The CPJ estimates that more than 170 journalists have been killed in Gaza since the war began in October 2023, making it the deadliest period for journalists since the organisation began gathering data in 1992.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate says it believes the number is higher and, with the deaths of Shabat and Mansour, 208 journalists and other members of the press have been killed over the course of the conflict.

Under international law, journalists are protected civilians who must not be targeted by warring parties.

Mourners at a ceremony for Hossam Shabat. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Hours after his death, Shabat’s team posted a message on X, written by the journalist to be published in the event of his death.

“I documented the horrors in northern Gaza minute by minute, determined to show the world the truth they tried to bury. I slept on pavements, in schools, in tents – anywhere I could. Each day was a battle for survival,” he wrote. “I endured hunger for months, yet I never left my people’s side … I fulfilled my duty as a journalist. I risked everything to report the truth, and now, I am finally at rest – something I haven’t known in the past 18 months … for the last time, Hossam Shabat, from northern Gaza.”