{"id":344850,"date":"2025-08-14T21:24:29","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T21:24:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/344850\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T21:24:29","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T21:24:29","slug":"israeli-army-unit-tasked-with-linking-gaza-journalists-to-hamas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/344850\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli army unit tasked with linking Gaza journalists to Hamas"},"content":{"rendered":"

In partnership with<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The Israeli military has operated a special unit called the \u201cLegitimization Cell,\u201d tasked with gathering intelligence from Gaza that can bolster Israel\u2019s image in the international media, according to three intelligence sources who spoke to +972 Magazine and Local Call and confirmed the unit\u2019s existence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Established after October 7, the unit sought information on Hamas\u2019 use of schools and hospitals for military purposes, and on failed rocket launches by armed Palestinian groups that harmed civilians in the enclave. It has also been assigned to identify Gaza-based journalists it could portray as undercover Hamas operatives, in an effort to blunt growing global outrage over Israel\u2019s killing of reporters \u2014 the latest of whom was Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif, killed in an Israeli airstrike this past week. <\/p>\n

According to the sources, the Legitimization Cell\u2019s motivation was not security, but public relations. Driven by anger that Gaza-based reporters were \u201csmearing [Israel\u2019s] name in front of the world,\u201d its members were eager to find a journalist they could link to Hamas and mark as a target, one source said.<\/p>\n

The source described a recurring pattern in the unit\u2019s work: whenever criticism of Israel in the media intensified on a particular issue, the Legitimization Cell was told to find intelligence that could be declassified and employed publicly to counter the narrative.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the global media is talking about Israel killing innocent journalists, then immediately there\u2019s a push to find one journalist who might not be so innocent \u2014 as if that somehow makes killing the other 20 acceptable,\u201d the intelligence source said.<\/p>\n

Often, it was Israel\u2019s political echelon that dictated to the army which intelligence areas the unit should focus on, another source added. Information gathered by the Legitimization Cell was also passed regularly to the Americans through direct channels. Intelligence officers said they were told their work was vital to allowing Israel to prolong the war.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team regularly collected intelligence that could be used for hasbara \u2014 say, a stockpile of [Hamas] weapons [found] in a school \u2014 anything that could bolster Israel\u2019s international legitimacy to keep fighting,\u201d another source explained. \u201cThe idea was to [allow the military to] operate without pressure, so countries like America wouldn\u2019t stop supplying weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"An<\/a><\/p>\n

An Israeli Government Press Office (GPO) tour shows weapons and ammunition from the field used by Hamas on October 7, at the Julis Military Base, November 10, 2023. (Mishel Amzaleg\/GPO)<\/p>\n

The unit also sought evidence linking Gaza\u2019s police to the October 7 attack, in order to justify targeting them and dismantling Hamas\u2019 civilian security force, one source familiar with the Legitimization Cell\u2019s work said.<\/p>\n

Two of the intelligence sources recounted that, in at least one case since the war began, the Legitimization Cell misrepresented intelligence in a way that allowed for the false portrayal of a journalist as a member of Hamas\u2019s military wing. \u201cThey were eager to label him as a target, as a terrorist \u2014 to say it\u2019s okay to attack him,\u201d one source recalled. \u201cThey said: during the day he\u2019s a journalist, at night he\u2019s a platoon commander. Everyone was excited. But there was a chain of errors and corner-cutting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end, they realized he really was a journalist,\u201d the source continued, and the journalist wasn\u2019t targeted.<\/p>\n

A similar pattern of manipulation is evident in the intelligence presented on Al-Sharif. According to the documents released<\/a> by the army, which have not been independently verified, he was recruited to Hamas in 2013 and remained active until he was injured in 2017 \u2014 meaning that, even if the documents were accurate, they suggest he played no role in the current war.<\/p>\n

The same applies to the case of journalist Ismail Al-Ghoul<\/a>, who was killed in a July 2024 Israeli airstrike along with his cameraman in Gaza City. A month later, the army claimed<\/a> he was a \u201cmilitary wing operative and Nukhba terrorist,\u201d citing a 2021 document allegedly retrieved from a \u201cHamas computer.\u201d Yet that document stated he received his military rank in 2007 \u2014 when he was just 10 years old, and seven years before he was supposedly recruited to Hamas.<\/p>\n

\u2018Find as much material as possible for hasbara\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n

One of the Legitimization Cell\u2019s first high-profile efforts came on Oct. 17, 2023, after the deadly explosion at Al-Ahli Hospital<\/a> in Gaza City. While international media, citing Gaza\u2019s Ministry of Health, reported that an Israeli strike had killed 500 Palestinians, Israeli officials said the blast was caused by a misfired Islamic Jihad rocket and that the death toll was far lower.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\"Palestinians'<\/a><\/p>\n

Palestinians\u2019 bodies are removed in the aftermath of the explosion at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, Gaza City, October 18, 2023. (Mohammed Zaanoun)<\/p>\n

The day after the explosion, the army released a recording<\/a> that the Legitimization Cell had located in intelligence intercepts, presented as a phone call between two Hamas operatives blaming the incident on a Islamic Jihad misfire. Many global outlets<\/a> subsequently considered the claim likely, including some who conducted their own<\/a> investigations<\/a>, and the release dealt a severe blow to the credibility of Gaza\u2019s Health Ministry \u2014 hailed within the Israeli army as a victory for the cell.<\/p>\n

A Palestinian human rights activist told +972 and Local Call in December 2023 that he was stunned to hear his own voice in the recording, which he said was simply a benign conversation with another Palestinian friend. He insisted he had never been a Hamas member.<\/p>\n

A source who worked with the Legitimization Cell said that publishing classified material like a phone call<\/a> was deeply controversial. \u201cIt\u2019s very much not in Unit 8200\u2019s DNA to expose our capabilities for something as vague as public opinion,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Still, the three intelligence sources said the army treated the media as an extension of the battlefield, allowing it to declassify sensitive intelligence for public release. Even intelligence personnel outside the Legitimization Cell were told to flag any material that might aid Israel in the information war. \u201cThere was this phrase, \u2018That\u2019s good for legitimacy,\u2019\u201d one source recalled. \u201cThe goal was simply to find as much material as possible to serve hasbara efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"Israeli<\/a><\/p>\n

Israeli soldiers stand at the entrance to an underground tunnel used by Hamas in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, November 28, 2024. (Oren Cohen\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

After the publication of this article, official security sources confirmed to +972 and Local Call that various \u201cresearch teams\u201d had been established inside Israeli military intelligence over the past two years with the aim of \u201cexposing Hamas\u2019 lies.\u201d They said that the goal was to \u201cdiscredit\u201d journalists reporting on the war on broadcast networks \u201cin allegedly a reliable and precise way,\u201d but who they claimed are actually part of Hamas. According to the sources, these research teams do not play a role in the selection of individual targets to be attacked.<\/p>\n

\u2018I never once hesitated to convey the truth\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

On August 10, the Israeli army killed six journalists in a strike it openly admitted<\/a> was aimed at Al Jazeera reporter Anas Al-Sharif. Two months earlier, in July, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) had warned<\/a> it feared for Al-Sharif\u2019s life, saying he was \u201ctargeted by an Israeli military smear campaign, which he believes is a precursor to his assassination.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Al-Sharif posted a viral video<\/a> in July of himself in tears while covering Gaza\u2019s hunger crisis, the Israeli army\u2019s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, published three<\/a> different<\/a> videos<\/a> attacking him, accusing him of \u201cpropaganda\u201d and of participating in \u201cHamas\u2019s false starvation campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Al-Sharif identified a link between Israel\u2019s media war and the military one. \u201cAdraee\u2019s campaign is not only a media threat or an image destruction; it is a real-life threat,\u201d he told CPJ. Less than a month later, he was killed, with the army presenting what they said was declassified intelligence of his membership in Hamas to justify the strike.<\/p>\n

The military had already claimed<\/a> in October 2024 that six Al Jazeera journalists, including Al-Sharif, were military operatives, an accusation he vehemently denied. He became the second from that list to be targeted, after reporter Hossam Shabat<\/a>. Since the October accusation, his whereabouts were well known, leading many observers to question whether killing Al-Sharif \u2014 who regularly reported from Gaza City \u2014 was part of Israel\u2019s plan to enforce a media blackout ahead of its military preparations to capture the city<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In response to questions from +972 Magazine about Al-Sharif\u2019s killing, the IDF Spokesperson reiterated that \u201cthe IDF attacked a terrorist from the Hamas terrorist organization who was operating under the guise of a journalist from the Al Jazeera network in the northern Gaza Strip,\u201d and claimed that the army \u201cdoes not intentionally harm uninvolved individuals and journalists in particular, all in accordance with international law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to the strike, the spokesperson added, \u201csteps were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians, including the use of precision weapons, aerial observations and additional intelligence information.\u201d<\/p>\n

At just 28, Al-Sharif had become one of Gaza\u2019s most recognized journalists. He is among 186 reporters and media workers killed in the Strip since October 7, according to CPJ \u2014 the deadliest period for journalists since the group began collecting data in 1992. Other organizations have put the death toll as high as 270<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice,\u201d Al-Sharif wrote in his final message, posthumously published on his social media accounts. \u201cI have lived through pain in all its details, tasted suffering and loss many times, yet I never once hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification.\u201d<\/p>\n

Note: an earlier version of this article misstated UK-based research group Forensic Architecture\u2019s findings about the Al-Ahli hospital explosion. Their February 2024 investigation<\/a> concluded the explosion filmed over the hospital a few seconds earlier, presented by Israel as evidence of a rocket malfunction, was actually related to its own Iron Dome interceptor.<\/p>\n


\n \"\" <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In partnership with The Israeli military has operated a special unit called the \u201cLegitimization Cell,\u201d tasked with gathering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-344850","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115029230596843331","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}