The Associated Press (AP), a major news agency, was warned in 2018 that a photographer working for it in Gaza had ties to Hamas, a terrorist group considered by several countries to be a terrorist group
At the time, the AP questioned whether he was trustworthy, but continued to use his work until November 2023, when it cut ties with him over controversies involving his photos of the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct.
7, 2023. The information came to light through documents released Tuesday in a U.S. court case.
The AP denies the lawsuit’s allegations, calling them “baseless.” The agency says internal messages among its employees were misinterpreted and notes that it stopped using photos by the photographer, named Hassan Eslaiah, shortly after the war began.
Eslaiah was injured in an Israeli airstrike this week, and the Israeli military has said he was a Hamas member.
About the October 7 attack
On October 7, 2023, Eslaiah entered Israel during the Hamas attack, which caused many deaths.
He photographed Gazans, some armed, storming Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the hardest-hit communities.
He also took a photo of Gazans standing on top of a burned-out Israeli tank near the destroyed border fence with Gaza.
Video and photos showed Eslaiah standing next to the tank, but he was not wearing a press ID.
After the attack, pro-Israel groups accused Eslaiah and other photographers from major news outlets of knowing about the attack in advance, although they did not provide any evidence.
A 2020 image also surfaced showing Eslaiah embracing Yahya Sinwar, the now-deceased Hamas leader.
The AP denied that its photographers knew about the attack beforehand and announced that it cut ties with Eslaiah in November 2023. His photos from October 7 have been removed from the AP’s system, but other images of him are still available.
In the hours following our expose, new material is still coming to light concerning Gazan freelance journalist Hassan Eslaiah whom both AP & CNN used on Oct. 7.
? HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) November 8, 2023
Here he is pictured with Hamas leader and mastermind of the Oct. 7 massacre, Yahya Sinwar. https://t.co/S9pXeIGaFq pic.twitter.com/RmEZU5RsM8
The lawsuit
In February 2024, survivors of the Hamas attack and families of victims filed a lawsuit against the AP in a Florida court.
They accuse the agency of aiding and abetting the attack by working with photographers like Eslaiah, who they say had ties to terrorists.
The group representing the survivors, the National Jewish Advocacy Center, said the AP was “funding and supporting a terrorist organization” by purchasing photos of the October 7 attack.
The lawsuit alleges that the AP knew about Eslaiah’s ties to Hamas for years and ignored it.
“The AP should have realized, with a simple investigation, that it was paying people linked to Hamas, who supported terrorism and participated in the attack that it also documented,” the filing says.
They argue that Eslaiah’s connections to Hamas gave him access to photograph the attack.
The AP called the lawsuit “baseless” and said none of its photographers knew about the attack in advance.
2018 documents show AP’s concerns
The documents released this week show that in 2018, AP employees were warned about Eslaiah’s ties to Hamas and questioned whether he could be trusted.
That year, the organization CAMERA, which monitors media coverage of Israel, asked the AP about a news story that quoted Eslaiah.
The story was about the shooting death of a boy in Gaza that was blamed on Israel, and used information from Eslaiah to confirm data from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.
CAMERA said Eslaiah worked for Quds TV, a Hamas-affiliated station, and that he supported terrorism on social media.
“I was told he is independent and trustworthy, and not from Hamas,” an AP employee responded.
But after CAMERA sent more information, another employee asked: “They sent a file about the journalist we mentioned, saying he is from Hamas.
Is that true? I thought you said he was independent.” Another colleague responded: “Many local journalists are not careful about what they say.” One employee suggested avoiding calling anyone from Quds TV an “independent journalist” and seeking another source to confirm the story.
The documents show that the AP had doubts about Eslaiah, but there is no record that they stopped working with him at the time.
Internal discussions after the attack
Messages from December 2023, also revealed in the lawsuit, show AP staffers discussing the use of Gaza photographers in the wake of the Eslaiah controversy.
“Until we resolve this October 7 issue, we should not use images of him and three other photographers,” one message said.
Another staffer wrote: “We cannot use him until this is over.
As much as we think these accusations are false, this has blown up.” One colleague resisted the idea of “”cutting ties, but another responded: “His social media is a mess, we had no choice.
It’s a lesson for everyone: be careful what you post or share.” The staffers also denied an allegation by Eslaiah, published in French media, that the AP had sent him to the border on October 7.
“This is not true,” they said.
What did Eslaiah post on social media? CAMERA shared Eslaiah’s social media posts from October 7.
He celebrated the Hamas attack as a “beautiful thing,” described terrorists as “warriors” and rockets as “resistance,” and called the victims “settlers.” The lawsuit claims that 30 minutes before the attack, Eslaiah posted on Telegram: “We woke up to the great gifts of God.” During the attack, he posted a video of bloodied bodies, saying, “God is great.
This is the way to Jerusalem.”
What does the AP say?
The AP told The Times of Israel that the messages had been misinterpreted.
According to the agency, the 2018 emails were simply about a complaint about mentioning Eslaiah in a news story, and his information was confirmed as accurate.
Regarding the 2023 messages, the AP said they showed journalists worried about their coverage of important news stories after being told to stop using photos from some freelancers.
The agency noted that it stopped accepting photos from Eslaiah a year and a half ago and that it investigates complaints like this.
More details
Israeli authorities also accused Eslaiah of being a Hamas member after the airstrike that wounded him.
The Israeli military said he was part of a Hamas brigade and was working as a covert journalist.
The AP and Reuters, another news agency, are also facing legal action in Israel over their use of photographers on Oct.
7.
Reuters recently stopped using photos of Eslaiah.
Pro-Israel groups have long accused the international press of working with journalists in Gaza who have ties to Hamas, hiding those connections and using biased journalists.
Published in 04/11/2025 02h40
Text adapted by AI (Grok) and translated via Google API in the English version. Images from public image libraries or credits in the caption.
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