Al-Aqsa TV journalist Ahmed Abu Mhadi was confirmed as a terrorist on Tuesday by Hamas, which released a martyr poster and video announcing that he was a member of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
Abu Mhadi was featured in the databases of the Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Federation of Journalists, with the former acknowledging that his news outlet was affiliated with Hamas. He was also included in a September 2025 Guardian article about the journalist death toll in Gaza.
According to Hamas, Abu Mahdi was a member of the Northern Brigade’s Martyr Fawzi Abu al-Qara’ Battalion. Video shows him in uniform, practicing preparing IEDs and drilling with firearms.
While there was some discrepancy with the “martyrdom” date provided by Hamas — four days later than the date of death provided by other Palestinian sources — no individuals with similar names or appearances were killed in the same time frame. Facial match software also identified the Hamas terrorist and the ostensible journalist to be the same person. Airwars also changed its designation of Abu Mahdi on Tuesday, identifying him as a combatant after initially recording him as a civilian.
The CPJ and IFJ databases of slain Gazan journalists have served as the basis for the narrative that the IDF has been targeting Palestinian media workers. Since HonestReporting published its audit of the CPJ database last Friday, four terrorist martyr posters were issued, including Abu Mahdi.
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© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
