Israel operates a secret military unit whose task is to find or create connections between journalists and Hamas to legitimize deadly attacks.
Intelligence sources tell the Israeli publications +972 Magazine and Local Call how the unit manipulates and distorts intelligence material as international criticism of journalist killings increases.
The so-called “legitimization unit” was established after Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023. According to three intelligence sources who confirmed the unit’s existence, its main task is not security but pure PR – to try by all means to justify Israel’s warfare in Gaza as international criticism grows.
The unit works systematically to find or create narratives that can defend Israeli military operations and bombings: evidence of Hamas’ use of civilian buildings, documentation of failed Palestinian rocket launches that killed their own civilians, and above all – attempts to smear journalists reporting from Gaza by linking them to Hamas.
An intelligence source reveals the unit’s cynical method: When international criticism against Israel increases, the unit is ordered to produce intelligence material that can be used to silence the criticism.
— If the global media is talking about Israel killing innocent journalists, then immediately there’s a push to find one journalist who might not be so innocent – as if that somehow makes killing the other 20 acceptable, says the source.
Fabricated accusations
It is Israel’s political leadership that directs the unit’s priorities, and the information is used strategically to secure continued American support. Intelligence officers have been explicitly told that their work is crucial for being able to prolong the war.
— The team regularly collected intelligence that could be used for hasbara – say, a stockpile of weapons in a school — anything that could bolster Israel’s international legitimacy to keep fighting. The idea was to allow the military to operate without pressure, so countries like America wouldn’t stop supplying weapons, explains a source.
The unit has repeatedly manipulated or fabricated intelligence to portray journalists as legitimate military targets. In at least one documented case, they tried to falsely present a journalist as a Hamas operative.
— They were eager to label him as a target, as a terrorist – to say it’s okay to attack him. They said: during the day he’s a journalist, at night he’s a platoon commander, reports a source.
The journalist is said to have been saved only because the manipulation was discovered before any attack could be carried out.
Systematic manipulation
The manipulation continued with Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif, who was killed in August after a coordinated smear campaign. The “evidence” the army presented showed activity that had ceased in 2017 – long before the current war. Despite this, the documents were used to justify his execution.
The same applies to the case of journalist Ismail Al-Ghoul, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in July 2024 along with his cameraman in Gaza City.
A month later, the army claimed he was an “military wing operative and Nukhba terrorist”, referring to a document from 2021 allegedly retrieved from a “Hamas computer.” But that document stated he received his military rank in 2007 – when he was only 10 years old, and seven years before he was allegedly recruited to Hamas.
Deadliest war for journalists
The unit’s work also became evident after the controversial explosion at Al-Ahli Hospital in October 2023. To deflect blame from Israel, the army released what they claimed was an intercepted conversation between Hamas members.
A Palestinian human rights activist was shocked when he recognized his own voice – from a completely harmless conversation with a friend. He had never been a Hamas member, but his voice was used to manipulate world opinion.
— It’s very much not in Unit 8200’s DNA to expose our capabilities for something as vague as public opinion, admits a source about the desperate and internally criticized publication.
The result of this systematic disinformation campaign is devastating for reporters on the ground: So far, at least 186 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since October 2023 according to the Committee to Protect Journalists – the deadliest period for journalists anywhere in modern history.
Other organizations have made higher estimates and claim that nearly 300 journalists have been killed during the Israeli invasion – journalists who were often singled out as militants or terrorists, but where concrete evidence for this has rarely been presented.
