At the outset of the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza photojournalists working for international media operated near Hamas terrorists in Shifa Hospital but excluded them from their photos, according to a visual analysis by HonestReporting.
The analysis, which reveals an alarming photo bias, focused on one day of coverage — October 11, 2023 — and showed that tens of Hamas terrorists were present at the hospital, where they kept a watchful eye over the media and managed the arrival of wounded into the emergency room.
The terrorists were clearly seen in wire service videos and social media posts from that day. But they don’t appear in the still photos distributed by Reuters, AP, or The New York Times, whose photojournalists at the site chose to leave the terrorists out of the frame and include only the wounded and dead.
Videos Vs. Photos
The analysis compared photos and videos taken on the same day and location by wire service photojournalists in Gaza. That’s because a picture may be worth a thousand words, but one can only see what’s inside the frame.
Videos, however, are dynamic. Video cameras can tilt and pan and reveal what’s outside the frame of a frozen still photo. It’s also harder to edit people out of videos.
Therefore, after we came across this Facebook reel from photojournalist Mariam Dagga (who currently works for AP), we decided to compare photos and videos of Shifa hospital that were published by the mainstream media. That’s because the reel shows the hospital entrance was infested with Hamas forces (circled in red on the video), while dozens of journalists stood by:
We found another angle of this video in a TRT X post, which clarified it had been taken on October 11, 2023 — several days after Hamas terrorists slaughtered 1,200 people in Israel and abducted hundreds into Gaza — some of them straight into the Shifa hospital, where the terror group had an underground tunnel infrastructure. (See our Interactive Hamas tunnel map for more information.)
Then, a search on the Reuters and AP platforms revealed that the two wire agencies had sent video and stills crews to the hospital that day.
But while the videographers couldn’t avoid showing Hamas operatives both inside and outside the hospital, the still photographers only took tight images of blood-stained victims.
Here is a clip from a Reuters video from the hospital, clearly showing Hamas forces (we circled in red):
And here are some still photos taken by Reuters photographer Mohammed Salem with no terrorists in sight:
Related Reading: EXPOSED: Foreign Media Journalists in Gaza Participated in Hamas’ “Loyalty” Day
Compromised Photojournalists
This photo bias may be explained by the fact that Salem has been honored by Hamas in the past. But it is alarming that no editor noticed the discrepancy between the videos and pictures.
The same issue is apparent in AP’s coverage at Shifa Hospital on the same date. The video shows Hamas people, one of them masked, managing the entry of wounded into the emergency room:
But the still photos, taken by Ali Mahmoud, only show victims of Israeli strikes:
This, too, comes as no surprise, because on October 7, 2023, Mahmoud was side by side with Hamas as he documented the abduction of Israeli hostages into Gaza.
The Reuters video also shows New York Times photojournalist Samar Abu Elouf, who stood at the entrance to the hospital, with a direct line of sight to Hamas operatives:
But instead of reporting the presence of Hamas forces at the hospital that day — which would have validated Israel’s claims against the terror group — she published a photo of Palestinians mourning their dead at the hospital along with an article about the “nightmare” that Gazans were going through:
Predictable as well, because Abu Elouf has been honored as a Hamas “work partner” in an official ceremony back in 2021.
Hiding the Truth
All of the above is a case study of just one day of coverage.
If this kind of manipulation has been going on since the beginning of the war, it’s clear that many photojournalists in Gaza shill for Hamas — out of fear or willingness.
By hiding the truth and erasing Hamas from the visuals, not only do they betray their professional mission of reporting the facts, but they also help Hamas perpetrate the war crime of hiding behind human shields in medical facilities.
Indeed, a picture is worth a thousand words. But in Gaza, what’s outside the frame is worth much more.
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