- Reading time : 5 min.
From Slander to Exile: Photographer Yasser Qudih Targeted for Doing His Job
On October 7, 2023, Gazan photographer Yasser Qudih photographed Hamas’ attack on Israel, prompting a pro-Israeli NGO to suspect him of having been alerted by the Islamist group ahead of time. Shortly after, his house was bombed, killing eight members of his family and leaving him racked with guilt. Forbidden Stories and its partners revisited the subsequent smear campaign that drove Qudih into exile and unemployment.
- The pro-Israeli NGO HonestReporting suspects photographer Yasser Qudih of “coordinating” with Hamas to cover the October 7 attacks
- Our analysis shows that Qudih entered Israel more than two hours after the attacks as a photographer
- HonestReporting published multiple articles attacking the photojournalist, who had to flee Gaza and stop reporting
By Cécile Andrzejewski
With Sofía Álvarez Jurado (Forbidden Stories), Hoda Osman (ARIJ), Miguel Ramalho (Bellingcat).
March 27, 2025
“I didn’t do anything wrong. I just did my job. That’s all. Maybe that strike wasn’t meant for me. We don’t know. But unfortunately, to this day, I can’t forget what happened. The people who came to take shelter with me, under my protection, died in my house.”
Almost a year and a half after the air strikes that targeted his home and killed eight members of his family, including three children, Gazan photojournalist Yasser Qudih continues to grapple with feelings of guilt.
“My wife tells me that the death of our family is our fault, that maybe they died because of us,” he said. “But I can’t go on telling myself that I’m responsible for their deaths.” Qudih explained that four strikes hit the vicinity of his house with the deadliest blow coming from a strike that exploded in an adjacent plot of land.
Yasser Qudih’s home in Gaza after the strike that killed eight members of his family, including three children (Credit: Yasser Qudih)
Yasser Qudih’s home in Gaza after the strike that killed eight members of his family, including three children (Credit: Yasser Qudih)
Journalists are “no different than terrorists,” according to an Israeli minister
What is it about Qudih’s photos that make him feel “guilty”? A freelance photographer working for various media outlets since 2005, Qudih was one of the first Gazan journalists to cover Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. This is precisely what made him the target of a smear campaign organized by the Israeli organization HonestReporting. The purported mission of this NGO, founded in 2000 during the second intifada, is to “respond to inaccuracies and prejudices” in articles about Israel.
In a piece published on November 8, 2023, four days before the deadly strike on Qudih’s home, HonestReporting wrote, “On October 7, Hamas terrorists were not the only ones who documented the war crimes they had committed during their deadly rampage across southern Israel. Some of their atrocities were captured by Gaza-based photojournalists working for the Associated Press and Reuters news agencies, whose early morning presence at the breached border area raises serious ethical questions. What were they doing there so early on what would ordinarily have been a quiet Saturday morning? Was it coordinated with Hamas?”
For HonestReporting, the mere presence of journalists at the scene of the attack seemed to imply that they had been informed ahead of time of Hamas’s plans. Qudih was one of six media workers targeted by the NGO for photos published by Reuters.
The title of one of HonestReporting’s articles referencing Yasser Qudih: “Broken borders: AP & Reuters pictures of Hamas atrocities raise ethical questions.” (Credit: Screenshot – Forbidden Stories)
What is it about Qudih’s photos that make him feel “guilty”? A freelance photographer working for various media outlets since 2005, Qudih was one of the first Gazan journalists to cover Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. This is precisely what made him the target of a smear campaign organized by the Israeli organization HonestReporting. The purported mission of this NGO, founded in 2000 during the second intifada, is to “respond to inaccuracies and prejudices” in articles about Israel.
In a piece published on November 8, 2023, four days before the deadly strike on Qudih’s home, HonestReporting wrote, “On October 7, Hamas terrorists were not the only ones who documented the war crimes they had committed during their deadly rampage across southern Israel. Some of their atrocities were captured by Gaza-based photojournalists working for the Associated Press and Reuters news agencies, whose early morning presence at the breached border area raises serious ethical questions. What were they doing there so early on what would ordinarily have been a quiet Saturday morning? Was it coordinated with Hamas?”
For HonestReporting, the mere presence of journalists at the scene of the attack seemed to imply that they had been informed ahead of time of Hamas’s plans. Qudih was one of six media workers targeted by the NGO for photos published by Reuters.
The title of one of HonestReporting’s articles referencing Yasser Qudih: “Broken borders: AP & Reuters pictures of Hamas atrocities raise ethical questions.” (Credit: Screenshot – Forbidden Stories)
The title of one of HonestReporting’s articles referencing Yasser Qudih: “Broken borders: AP & Reuters pictures of Hamas atrocities raise ethical questions.” (Credit: Screenshot – Forbidden Stories)
HonestReporting offered no evidence to support its speculations. “Reuters has published pictures from two photojournalists who also happened to be at the border just in time for Hamas’ infiltration: Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa and Yasser Qudih,” the article continued. “They both took pictures of a burning Israeli tank on the Israeli side of the border.”
The baselessness of HonestReporting’s suggestions did not stop Israel’s highest authorities from echoing them on the social network X the very next day. Benny Gantz, then a minister in the war cabinet, wrote: “Journalists who knew about the massacre and still chose to stand idly by while children were slaughtered are no different from terrorists and should be treated as such.”
Does this statement by a senior minister reflect the views of the Israeli government? Was it concerted? When contacted on these points by Forbidden Stories, the Israeli prime minister’s office did not respond to our questions.
The official X account for the State of Israel asserted that the, “[Associated] Press, CNN, the New York Times and Reuters had journalists embedded with Hamas terrorists during the October 7 massacre,” before later deleting the post. The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also weighed in, describing the journalists as “accomplices in crimes against humanity.” For its part, the Reuters news agency issued a statement categorically denying any “prior knowledge of the attack or that we embedded journalists with Hamas on October 7.”
On November 10, two days after the article was published, Gil Hoffman, HonestReporting’s executive director and former journalist, said he was “relieved” by the response from the various news agencies. “We asked questions. We didn’t give answers,” Hoffman said. He also backtracked on the topic of Reuters, explaining “that his organization did not claim to know that the press groups had prior knowledge of the Hamas attack.”
When Forbidden Stories reached out to HonestReporting, the NGO responded publicly on X: “Whether they knew about the attack in advance, they were part of Hamas’ media plan and were allowed and encouraged to document the atrocities for the terror org,” they wrote. “Journalists always try to be first on the scene. But in this case, that should raise some serious questions.”
A journalist doing his job
Though HonestReporting’s speculations have no basis, they had serious consequences for Qudih. Interviewed for the second installment of the Gaza Project, the photojournalist began by retracing his professional career.
“I’ve worked with all the international magazines and newspapers without exception,” he said. “I worked in Gaza, I covered the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, and I worked in Egypt during the revolution and transition period.”
In May 2018, Qudih was seriously wounded by an Israeli sniper fire while wearing a press vest during the “Great March of Return,” a weekly protest movement calling for the return of Palestinian refugees and an end to the Israeli blockade on Gaza. His convalescence lasted several months.
This figure shows the photo taken by Yasser located at 31.34512, 34.30643, where the sun azimuth is drawn from three aligned visual markers and then ported to Google Earth pro for a heading (azimuth) measurement, this value combined with the orientation, date and coordinates matches the photo time metadata – 06.52am local time – with an error margin of 5 minutes.
On October 7, 2023, the day of Hamas’ terror attack on Israel, Qudih was awakened by noise and flashes of light, which he initially mistook for a thunderstorm. “My house is near the border, six kilometres away,” he said. “But I didn’t go there directly. I went to the highest part of Khan Yunis, to a restaurant called Titanic,” to get a panoramic view.”
There, Qudih took his first photograph at 6:52 a.m., according to the image’s metadata. This was confirmed by an analysis from our partner Bellingcat, which used the solar azimuth when the photo was taken to verify its location and time of capture, approximately 20 minutes after the attack began.
“Every time something happens, we climb to the top of this spot because it offers Internet access and a high vantage point for photographing explosions and bombings,” said Qudih.
One of Yassr Qudih’s photos published on Reuters’ website in October 2023 as part of the series, “In pictures: Seven days in Israel and Gaza” (Credit: Screenshot – Forbidden Stories)
That day, Qudih also sent his images to the Chinese agency Xinhua, but quickly decided to return home. According to his account, he warned his contact at Xinhua of how dangerous the situation was.
“At the border, I discovered [Hamas was kidnapping] Israelis and Thai workers,” Qudih said. “I was scared, honestly. I stopped at the border, where the tanks were on fire. I took a few photos and left.” Even now, Qudih “blames himself” for venturing out that day. But, he added, “journalists [are] curious by nature. They like to see and know everything.”
“When the allegations [about me] started appearing a month later, I was terrified,” said Qudih. “The campaign was fierce.”
Four days after HonestReporting’s article, Qudih’s neighborhood, then house – where many of his relatives were taking shelter – were hit by deadly strikes. Eight were killed, including three children.
Reuters, which had published Qudih’s photos, emphasized the proximity of the two events in a dispatch. “Deadly strikes hit the Gaza home of a news photographer days after an Israeli media advocacy group questioned his coverage of Hamas’ October 7 attack, prompting death threats against him on social media,” it read. Reuters admitted, however, that it “could not verify who was responsible for the strikes, why Qudih’s home in southern Gaza was targeted or whether the strikes were linked to HonestReporting’s November 8 report.”
Yasser Qudih at the Pulitzer Prize ceremony in New York on October 25, 2024 (Credit: Yasser Fathi Qudih’s Facebook page)
For its part, HonestReporting didn’t waver. “We stand behind everything we’ve written before & since Oct. 7, 2023,” they wrote on X. “Do we believe an airstrike on Qudih’s home was connected to our story? No. Because Israel does not target journalists for being bona fide journalists.”
Six months later, in May 2024, Reuters won a Pulitzer Prize in the “Breaking News Photography” category, and Qudih was among the photographers rewarded for their coverage of the October 7 attack. Once again, he became the subject of an HonestReporting article, even though in November 2023, the organization’s executive director stated that he had no problem with the two freelance photojournalists—including Qudih—from whom Reuters had acquired images.
Much like before, HonestReporting accused Qudih of having been at the scene of the attack “early enough that morning to capture an image of a still-smoldering Israeli tank after he had illegally crossed into the Jewish state.” The photo was taken at 8:30 a.m. that day—two hours after the attack began—according to its metadata, which we were able to verify.
HonestReporting also criticized another photo taken on the Israeli side of the border, a few minutes before the previous one, depicting a man with a gun. He has his back turned to the camera, a detail the NGO used to suggest that Qudih “at least had their tacit approval to document and disseminate their actions.”
The title of another HonestReporting article that references Yasser Qudih: “Photographer who infiltrated Israel on Oct. 7 honored in Reuters’ Pulitzer win” (Credit: Screenshot – Forbidden Stories)
An unemployed Pulitzer Prize winner
Finally, in December 2024, HonestReporting published a photo on X showing the journalist receiving another award, this time in 2021. The post was accompanied by the caption, “Yasser Qudih: A freelance photographer who has been honoured by Hamas as a ‘working partner.’” The ceremony in question was actually an annual celebration organized by the Gazan government’s media office, which is run by Hamas, the enclave’s ruling party. This office was responsible for producing press releases and, most importantly, issuing work permits to journalists.
“Any journalist in Gaza has to go through this office to work. Even foreign journalists entering Gaza need to obtain permits there,” explained a Gazan journalist who requested anonymity. Accepting this authorization “doesn’t mean you’re working with them or supporting Hamas or anything else.”
A photo of Yasser Qudih posted on February 24, 2025, with the caption, “It’s just life, nothing more.” (Credit: Yasser Fathi Qudih’s Facebook profile)
“These accusations have affected me and my colleagues,” said Qudih. “[News agencies] stopped giving us work. In February 2024, Reuters warned me that they would no longer be able to accept my photos due to how violent the campaign against them was.”
On the HonestReporting website, visitors can write directly to Reuters’ managers to alert them to the “unethical and unprofessional behaviour” of some of their employees, including Qudih, who is mentioned by name. The photojournalist admits he “lost hope” at the time. “It was like admitting I’d done something wrong,” he said.
After two months of hell, Qudih managed to leave Gaza with his wife and children with the approval of the Israeli authorities. “I had reached such a stage of exhaustion and weakness [after the bombing of my house],” he said. “My mother told me that if I didn’t feel comfortable, I could leave. I began to doubt myself, thinking that my photos could have caused the death of my whole family. That’s why I left.”
Even after spending nine months in Egypt, Qudih still hasn’t been able to practice his craft for “a single minute.”“My only wish is to start taking photos again,” he said. “I want to close my eyes, open them, and find myself back in Gaza.”
See also
