Key Takeaways:
- The U.S. Department of Justice Indicted a San Diego resident fundraising for Hamas through Gaza Now, a Gaza-based news outlet operating largely on Telegram and X.
- The family of the founder of Gaza Now has previously been exposed for having connections to terrorist organizations or fundraising for Hamas. One family member was in Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades, while another used an NGO to finance terrorism.
- Gaza Now is one example of how the Gazan media and NGO ecosystem is inextricably tied to Hamas.
Since the outbreak of the war on October 7, 2023, it has been clear that terrorists have embedded themselves in civilian positions.
Terrorists doubling as journalists is perhaps one of the most prominent cover tactics. Not only does a terrorist posing as a journalist serve as a human shield by exploiting civilian positions, but the cover tactic also helps Hamas craft the narrative that Israel is intentionally targeting civilians in Gaza.
The implications of journalistic perfidy extend beyond Gaza. As the battle over the narrative continues, media networks operating in Gaza are pushing anti-Israel propaganda to an international audience to shape public opinion – and some are even facilitating activities that pose broader global security concerns.
Last week, this became all the more apparent when Reda Mazen Rida Sabassi, a San Diego resident, was charged for his role in a Hamas fundraising scheme.
The Justice Department today announced the unsealing of a five-count complaint charging Reda Mazen Rida Sabassi, 38, of San Diego, California, with terrorism, sanctions-evasion, wire fraud, money laundering, and false statement charges in connection with his efforts to divert… pic.twitter.com/LlYEz5ihy0
— National Security Division, U.S. Dept of Justice (@DOJNatSec) June 17, 2026
In working closely with Gaza Now, an outlet that describes itself as the “largest independent media network” in Gaza and that has been previously sanctioned in March 2024 by the U.S Treasury, Sabassi allegedly raised $600,000 through online fundraising, transferring $116,000 of the donations to a Hamas member. He further attempted to convert around $382,000 of the money he raised into cryptocurrency to send to Hamas through Gaza Now.
The news outlet has solicited donations from individuals who were under the impression that their donations would be received by people in need in Gaza, rather than benefit terrorist organizations.
With more than 1 million subscribers to its Arabic Telegram channel and another 184,000 in its English channel, as well as X accounts with large followings in both Arabic and English, Gaza Now has consistently used the face of a news outlet to launder Hamas propaganda to a wide audience.
According to the criminal complaint, Gaza Now’s Telegram channel has shared propaganda videos from Hamas and on one occasion shared a summary of an official Hamas statement before it was posted to Hamas’ official channel. Sabassi had further published compilations of the October 7 massacre on his own channels.
Despite being clearly associated with Hamas, Gaza Now’s accounts still operate freely.
Although the co-conspirator referenced in the complaint remains unnamed, details in the filing closely align with publicly available information regarding Gaza Now’s founder, Mustafa Ayyash, whose family was killed in an airstrike early in the war.
One of the family members listed in Gaza Now’s statement was Mohamed Mouin Ayyash, a photojournalist based in Gaza, who the CPJ also listed as a slain journalist from the same time. Other pro-Palestinian media indicated that Mohamed Mouin Ayyash was the target of the strike that killed the Ayyash family, noting that he had worked with the Hezbollah-affiliated broadcaster Al Mayadeen as well as Gaza Now.
Following Mohamed Mouin Ayyash’s death, a photo of him in military gear emerged, indicating that he served as a member of Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades. The IDF has claimed that the deceased Ayyash was a Hamas squad commander, and that the site was targeted in response to a threat posed to troops.
Another brother of Mustafa, Ibrahim Ayyash, runs the NGO Ibrahim for Gaza, which holds fundraising campaigns, and has worked with Gaza Now on multiple of these initiatives, including one campaign which the U.S. blocked on suspicion of financing terrorism.
The Ayyash family’s overlapping involvement in media, fundraising, and alleged terrorist activity illustrates the extent to which journalism, activism, and support networks can intersect within Gaza’s information ecosystem.
But this is only symbolic of a much larger problem.
There is no free press, nor freedom of expression in Gaza. Both news outlets and non-profits alike operate in an environment entirely controlled by Hamas. The media and NGOs that operate there do so under the dark shadow of Hamas’ rule, meaning that institutions are expected to advance the terrorist organization’s interests.
This intricate network of terrorism merging with the media and NGOs evidently has global consequences. Terrorist networks can operate relatively under cover, cultivating international sympathy and soliciting donations from otherwise well-meaning individuals.
As long as media like Gaza Now continue to operate under the guise of journalism while laundering funds and propaganda for Hamas, the international community’s ability to distinguish between journalism, propaganda, and material support for terrorism will continue to erode.
Gaza Now is only a reminder of the dangers of a society with no freedom of the press. When journalism in Gaza operates entirely within Hamas’ shadow, the outlets that emerge from it cannot be trusted to report the news but rather to serve the interests of those who control it.
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