JERUSALEM – As media reports emerge regarding Hamas’ claim that a journalist was among the three fatalities in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis’ Nasser Hospital, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis reminds the press corps that in 2018 the media-watchdog organization documented that photographer Hassan Eslaiah was an employee of Hamas’ Al Quds TV, and was therefore a Hamas operative, not a journalist.
Eslaiah was among the freelance photographers from the Gaza Strip who crossed the border into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 alongside thousands of Hamas-led terrorists and photographed the invasion. As reported in Times of Israel, terror victims have sued the Associated Press for publishing his photographs, charging: “AP has long been on notice of their freelancer’s Hamas connections, and chose to ignore those connections.”
CAMERA’s 2018 correspondence with AP stands at the foundation of the lawsuit. The world’s oldest and largest Middle East media monitoring and educational organization, CAMERA questioned the news agency’s reliance on Eslaiah, identified in the 2018 story as a “local journalist” who corroborated a Hamas accusation that Israel was responsible for the death of a child at the Gaza border fence. When Tamar Sternthal, director of CAMERA’s Israel office, requested clarification on Eslaiah’s journalistic credentials, an AP official insisted that Eslaiah “is independent and reliable and not Hamas.” CAMERA subsequently sent AP an article from Electronic Intifada identifying Eslaiah as a camera operator with the Hamas-affiliated Quds TV. Later, in 2020, Sternthal tweeted a photograph of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar kissing and embracing Eslaiah, and tagged AP.
Last April, when Eslaiah was injured in an Israeli airstrike, the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet reported that Eslaiah was a member of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade and was operating “under the guise of a journalist and owner of a press company.”
In its 2018 correspondence with AP, CAMERA also documented that Eslaiah’s social media revealed his full ideological identification with Hamas, abundant glorification of terrorism, and anti-Jewish statements. Similarly, in November 2023, CAMERA published a report exposing Eslaiah’s celebration of the Oct. 7 atrocities, including praise for the Hamas “warriors” and reflections on how “storming the settlements” is a “beautiful thing.”
“Hassan Eslaiah’s ties to Hamas, a designated terror organization, have long been established and documented,” remarked Tamar Sternthal. “Associated Press now finds itself embroiled in a difficult lawsuit after having recklessly ignored the carefully researched information which we sent them years ago. Others should take note of the AP’s egregious misstep and scrupulously refrain from treating any terror operative, including Eslaiah, as a journalist.”