These 8 news outlets relied on terror group for casualty figures when reporting on Israel-Hamas war: study

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Major media outlets, including The New York Times, The Guardian and Associated Press, relied on casualty figures from the Gaza Ministry of Health, run by terrorist organization Hamas, when reporting on the Israel-Hamas war, according to a new study.

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The findings showed a dependence on aggregate numbers from Hamas, limited citation of data on terrorist deaths and “disproportionate doubt directed at different sources,” writes author Tatiana Glezer, from independent research group Fifty Global.

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“Together, these patterns support a narrative in which total casualty figures are treated as civilian losses.”

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Researchers found that journalists cited numbers from the ministry in 100 per cent of the publications reviewed in the study, whereas only three per cent of all articles reviewed cited Israeli data.

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The Israel-Hamas war was triggered by an attack by Hamas terrorists, who killed 1,200 people in Israel and took 251 hostages on Oct. 7, 2023. Although the Israeli military began withdrawing troops from Gaza as part of a peace deal in 2025, there is still violence and unrest in the region.

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The study focuses on 1,378 articles published from March to June 2024 by eight English-language outlets: CNN, BBC, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Reuters and Associated Press.

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During that time period, there were still living hostages in Gaza.

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The study found that like the Gaza Ministry of Health, the outlets did not distinguish between terrorist and civilian deaths in their reporting. Articles rarely included data from Israeli sources.

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“Estimates indicating a high proportion of civilian deaths may contribute to reframing a conflict from war to genocide,” according to the study. “In this sense, quantitative representations of harm are not neutral; they carry interpretive consequences that shape both public discourse and institutional judgment.”

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The study suggests that a more comprehensive understanding of deaths during the war could be reached by including both primary sources: the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which provides estimates of terrorist casualties, and the Gaza Ministry of Health, which does not.

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The IDF said in 2024 that they classify terrorists as individuals who were killed while holding weapons, but did not provide further details, the study said.

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Through its analysis, the study concluded that the Gaza health ministry “became the primary source of statistical information about the war casualties.” Neither the ministry nor the IDF offer data specific to civilian casualties.