Gaza Collapse Coverage Missed Possible Haniyeh Security Detail Link

Multiple outlets reported that a residential building collapsed in Gaza City on September 16, killing at least 21 people.

Notably, a Palestinian news outlet listed Mahmoud Kamal Musleh Saada among the victims.

Photographs located and reviewed by HonestReporting appear to show Saada serving in the security detail of then-Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh at public appearances. HonestReporting has not independently confirmed that the man pictured in those photographs and the victim named in Gaza’s casualty reports are the same person, although a pro-Hamas Telegram channel reported that Saada was a member of Haniyeh’s security detail.

If confirmed, such a role would indicate a close connection to Hamas’s security apparatus, though the photograph alone cannot establish his exact position in the terrorist organization.

There is precedent for senior Hamas security personnel also holding formal roles within Hamas’s military structure. Wasim Abu Shaaban, for example, served as Haniyeh’s personal bodyguard for five years before being killed alongside him in Tehran in 2024. Hamas subsequently mourned Abu Shaaban as a member of its military apparatus who had also provided security for senior Hamas officials.

Separately, al-Mankhal, an anti-Hamas Palestinian Telegram channel, claimed that Saada was actually inside a tunnel beneath the building. The channel said the tunnel was undergoing repairs at the time of its collapse, bringing down the building above and crushing Saada. Hamas tunnels have, of course, collapsed before. And while that fact makes the account more plausible, HonestReporting has not found independent evidence corroborating it.

The claim also offers an alternative explanation to the one given by Hamas-run civil defense, which attributed the collapse to earlier damage caused by the Israel Defense Forces. Meanwhile, the IDF said it had not struck the building.

None of this establishes why the building collapsed, but the coverage reviewed by HonestReporting omitted potentially significant evidence that one of those killed may have been linked to the security detail of Hamas’s political chief, raising a more basic question: are journalists even prepared to conduct the most elementary due diligence before relaying claims from Hamas-run authorities?

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