Duke University’s collaboration with Hamas-sympathizing physicians overseen by a committee under Hamas’ thumb was missing from Mary Kekatos’ reporting on Feb. 18, 2026, when the ABC News reporter wrote about a medical study on injuries in Gaza in an article entitled: “Up to 46,000 injuries in Gaza require reconstructive surgery: Study.”
In addition to giving no background on the study’s authors, Kekatos further neglected to divulge to readers that the study, funded by Duke University’s Bass Connections Program, was overseen by the Palestinian Health Research Council (PHRC). The PHRC in Gaza is an entity formed by the Gaza Ministry of Health (MOH), which is Hamas-run. Hamas is a U.S.-designated terror organization that massacred approximately 1200 people and kidnapped 251 when it invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Hamas also oppresses and kills its own citizens.
Instead of reporting on this, Kekatos copied statistics from the study that predicted the number of Gazans who would need surgery (though Kekatos’ headline was slightly misleading) and the need for patients to go abroad for such surgeries. In addition, she quoted a Hamas sympathizer unrelated to the study, who exaggerated by nearly 250 percent the Hamas-provided casualty figures since the October 2025 ceasefire in Gaza.
Hamas Framing and Propaganda Ran Rampant Through the Research Study
Even if Kekatos had not discovered the link between Hamas and the Palestinian Health Research Council, the journal article’s introduction to the study should have raised serious suspicions that something was amiss given the rather shocking frame:
The Gaza Strip has been a focal point of conflict for decades and reached a tipping point on October 7, 2023. Since then, the Israeli government significantly escalated military action in Gaza and intensified the humanitarian crisis through aid blockades, the killing of civilians, and the destruction of infrastructure.
Not only does this introduction section not mention the Hamas massacre in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the entire journal article does not once include the word Hamas. How can readers trust the findings and conclusions of a study that is so wildly biased it cannot neutrally state how the war began? That 11 Duke-affiliated students and faculty had no qualms about putting their names on a journal article which allowed readers to come away with the impression that Israel decided to arbitrarily escalate its military action on the civilians of Gaza “since October 7, 2023,” is not only a stain on Duke’s reputation, but renders the findings of the study wholly suspect. ABC News ignored this.
The one-sided frame pervaded the entire study’s writeup. Kekatos’ failure to acknowledge any of it rendered ABC News a vehicle to launder Hamas’ propaganda through reportable medical research. For example, the study described limitations in medical care due to “destruction of healthcare facilities and the killing and arrest of medical personnel,” alleging that “[n]early all hospitals in Gaza have been targeted by Israeli attacks.” There was no acknowledgement of the well-documented Hamas infiltration inside and below hospitals in Gaza or that various medical professionals in Gaza were later revealed to be members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
In addition to the generally biased write-up and oversight concerns, the research study contained significant reliability and sourcing deficiencies, including that it: was based on studies by terrorist-infiltrated Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and information from terrorist-infiltrated United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA); relied on other studies by Hamas-adjacent academics (e.g. a study led by Zeina Jamaluddine, PhD, member of the Famine Review Committee who was singularly entrusted with data from the MOH); took Hamas’ statistics without caution; alleged Gaza was led “into a state of famine,” despite the famine classification having been been debunked and even the U.N. reporting that famine was “pushed back;” spewed unproven allegations made by Al Jazeera (and flatly rejected by the IDF) that Israel used thermobaric explosives; alleged use by Israel of white phosphorous in Gaza (despite denial by the IDF, though legal) and alleged violations by Israel of the Fourth Geneva Convention – which, even if proven, do not seem relevant to a study about injuries in Gaza requiring plastic surgery.
Two Hamas-Allied Doctors Were Part of the 13 Authors of the Study
The failure to report on the study’s framing and innumerable deficiencies was compounded exponentially by Kekatos’ silence regarding the two members of the team not from Duke University: Dr. Victoria Rose from Guys’ and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in the UK and Dr. Ahmed Mokhallalati from Al Shifa Hospital.
Plastic surgeon Dr. Mokhallalati is a Hamas mouthpiece, sympathizer and propagandist. In addition to his participation in this research study, he widely and frequently spread the genocide libel and has also suggested that Israel stole organs from the bodies of Palestinians prisoners.
Mokhallalati appeared on LBC on Nov. 3, 2023, at which time he was working in Al-Shifa Hospital. In Nov. 2023, the U.S. confirmed Hamas terrorists were sheltering in Al-Shifa and using it for command-and-control purposes. That was the same month Cpl. Noa Marciano was murdered inside Al-Shifa Hospital and the IDF recovered her and one other hostage’s bodies. It is almost certain Mokhallalati knew Hamas was in the hospital when he gave the interview to LBC, though one can only speculate how much contact he had with them at that time.
Mokhallalati acknowledged having been in a meeting with the Hamas-run MOH at least once, on Aug. 10, 2025.
On Oct. 11, 2025, he expressed deep appreciation and respect to the MOH leaders in Gaza. Mokhallalati also participated in a discussion on Al Jazeera 360 about the “heroism” of Hamas member Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, who he called a “resistance doctor.” He also mourned the death of “journalist” (Hamas-member) Hossam Shabat.
British plastic surgeon Dr. Rose was also part of the Hamas propaganda machine. Described by Mokhallalati as his mentor and supporter, she has appeared in numerous videos on his social media. The two appeared together on a panel with Health Workers 4 Palestine, a group the ADL has described as an extremist anti-Israel group which formed after Oct. 7, 2023, seeks to eradicate Israel, glorifies terror, and promotes the intimidation and harassment of Jews. 
Rose came to Gaza in 2024 to spend a month at Nasser Hospital with MSF – France (a.k.a. Doctors Without Borders), which has recently been in the news for finally admitting to the presence of terrorists in Gaza hospitals.
Through [suspected to be Qatari-backed] Middle East Eye, Rose also accused Israel of indiscriminate bombing in Gaza and systematic starvation.
Duke’s participation in a medical study with Hamas-allied doctors and oversight by a Hamas-formed committee is newsworthy. Kekatos ignored it. Instead, her reporting allowed Hamas propaganda to be whitewashed by a medical study and presented to the American public through ABC News.