Why Are Western Media Images Appearing in a Hamas Manifesto Justifying October 7?

Key Takeaways:

• Hamas is literally illustrating its terror manifesto with Western media photos — Reuters, Getty, and AFP images appear throughout a Hamas propaganda document justifying October 7, lending the terror group borrowed credibility.

• Either the agencies were paid, duped, or complicit — none of the options look good — raising serious legal, ethical, and reputational questions about how their work ended up embedded in terrorist messaging.

• This is the weaponization of journalism, not just bias — Hamas is exploiting Western visuals to sanitize mass murder for English-speaking audiences, exposing how dangerously porous the media ecosystem around Gaza has become.

 

Last month, Hamas quietly released a document titled “Our Narrative: Al Aqsa Flood: Two Years of Steadfastness and the Will for Liberation.” Framed as a historical reflection, the 42-page PDF issued by the Hamas media office is a propaganda pamphlet. It lays out, in Hamas’ own words, how the group understands October 7, why it carried out the massacre, and why it continues to justify it.

What has gone largely unnoticed is how the document visually tells that story.

HonestReporting has found that alongside screenshots taken from Hamas propaganda footage, the document relies heavily on imagery produced by Western news agencies. Of the document’s photographs from Gaza, ten appear to have been taken by photographers working for Reuters, Getty Images, and AFP.

These photos are offered for sale on these agencies’ digital platforms, with prices ranging from US$375 to US$500. According to the relevant terms of service of each agency, each photo must be bought with proper permission and licensing. So three urgent questions arise:

• Did Hamas pay the agencies for the right to download and distribute their photos, which would raise potential legal concerns under U.S. laws governing material support to terrorist organizations?
• Did Hamas use the photos without permission, which means that the agencies are now obligated to act to prevent their work from being used in terrorist propaganda?
• Did the agencies or their Gaza-based photographers know of Hamas’ use of the photos and turned a blind eye, which can be considered an in-kind gift?

 

Either way, Reuters, Getty Images, and AFP must explain how it is that their images are featured in a Hamas propaganda manifesto justifying mass murder.

Troubling Ties

While none of the photos are credited or sourced, HonestReporting managed to identify them and the photographers who took them. Unsurprisingly, they have unethical ties to Hamas.

So it’s not shocking that their images served the terror group’s narrative. Here is a selection of images from the manifesto, with captions added by HonestReporting based on our research:

 

 

Related Reading: EXPOSED: Foreign Media Journalists in Gaza Participated in Hamas’ “Loyalty” Day

Weaponizing Journalism

This is not a technical or legal footnote. Hamas’ strategy has long relied on controlling not just facts but visuals. By incorporating images shot by Western media, Hamas effectively cloaks its narrative in borrowed credibility.

These revelations raise the question of whether international wire services could face legal and ethical exposure if their images were knowingly or unknowingly used by Hamas in a propaganda manifesto, and whether they are now duty-bound to act.

If they do act, agencies like Reuters — which has largely avoided labelling Hamas as a terrorist organization since October 7 — may have to publicly acknowledge it as one.

 

Either way, the outcome is the same. Hamas has succeeded in embedding Western media imagery into its own propaganda in English, reinforcing a narrative that justifies violence, in an attempt to appeal to potential allies in the West.

HonestReporting has long warned that Gaza-based media operations function in an environment where Hamas exerts pressure and influence. This document provides fresh evidence of how that environment allows a terror group to weaponize journalism itself.

When a Hamas manifesto is illustrated largely with Western media photographs, the question is no longer whether Hamas manipulates the media. It is whether the media is prepared to confront how easily its work is being used to justify the murder of Jews.

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