Al Jazeera fires 24 journalists, staff from Gaza amid lawsuit alleging Hamas, PIJ ties - report

The lawsuit was filed in February 2025, names the employees and alleges that some Al Jazeera staff members had ties to terrorist organizations and, in some cases, were members of those groups.

Al Jazeera has fired 24 journalists and staff members who worked for the network in the Gaza Strip, amid a lawsuit filed in the US accusing the Qatari broadcaster of providing support to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Ynet reported Friday.

The lawsuit was filed in February 2025 by Shurat HaDin, with support from the pro-Israel advocacy group StandWithUs. It names the employees and alleges that some Al Jazeera staff members had ties to terrorist organizations and, in some cases, were members of those groups.

The Jerusalem Post reported in June that the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) would conduct a comprehensive review of its database of journalists killed during the Israel-Hamas war after Hamas and PIJ published obituaries identifying individuals previously listed by CPJ as journalists as members of their organizations.

In a statement on June 25, CPJ said it had removed 20 names from its database after confirming that those individuals had worked for Hamas or PIJ.

The review followed Israeli media reports that identified several individuals previously listed as journalists by international organizations as having ties to Hamas or PIJ.

CPJ outlines criteria for listing journalists in database

“CPJ has always been clear that we do not include anyone in our data sets if there is evidence that they were engaging in combat or inciting imminent violence,” CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg said in the statement. “This is consistent with international humanitarian law, which considers journalists affiliated with non-state actors to be civilians, provided they do not directly participate in hostilities.”

According to CPJ, the organization uses at least two independent sources of information, desk-based research, and, where possible, in-person reporting before adding an individual to its database as a journalist or media worker.

CPJ said that in-person verification by researchers outside Gaza has not been possible since the beginning of the war because Israel has not allowed international correspondents access to the territory.

CPJ pushes for access for foreign media in Gaza

The organization has petitioned the Israeli government and the Supreme Court to reverse the restrictions preventing foreign journalists from entering Gaza.

“CPJ condemns in no uncertain terms the misrepresentation of combatants as journalists or media workers, or the misuse of ‘Press’ insignia,” Ginsberg said. “Such actions endanger every single individual journalist legitimately trying to report. We are conducting a full review of the names on our lists to confirm that no one who was actively engaged in combat is listed in our data.”