According to the investigation, which is based on information from three sources, the unit is called the "legitimization cell" and was created after Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
One of the group's main tasks is said to be to search for material in order to portray individual journalists in Gaza as belonging to Hamas, in order to thus mitigate the growing criticism of the large number of deadly attacks on reporters that Israel has carried out over nearly two years.
Driven by anger
In at least one case, they are said to have been in the process of publishing material regarding a specific reporter and pointing out that person as a fighter for Hamas when the mission was aborted.
In the end, they realized that he was actually a journalist, says one of the sources.
The sources state that the unit's overall goal is to gather intelligence and lift the secrecy of material that can be used to improve Israel's international reputation, and as a result, the activity is not about security but instead focuses on PR.
According to one of +972's sources, the "legitimization cell" is driven by anger towards reporters in Gaza because they "soil Israel's reputation in the world".
If international media talks about Israel killing innocent journalists, then an initiative is immediately taken to find a journalist who may not be completely innocent, as if that would make the killing of the other 20 acceptable, says the source.
Directives from the government
Regarding the work of choosing the focus for which intelligence area to focus on, the unit often receives directives from the government, says another of the sources, who also says that the intelligence is often shared with the USA.
The unit's commanders also often point out to their subordinates that their work plays an important role in enabling Israel to continue the war.
The idea is to be able to let the military operate without being pressured so that countries like the USA do not stop sending weapons, says the source.
Killed well-known reporter
The investigation comes just days after last weekend's heavily criticized attack, in which Israel killed Al Jazeera's well-known reporter Anas al-Sharif and five other journalists. Israel claims that al-Sharif fought for Hamas, but the evidence presented for this is both few and difficult to verify. The other five have not been justified or explained by Israel.
The Israeli military says in a comment to +972 that they "in line with international law do not intentionally harm non-involved individuals and not specifically journalists".
Since the outbreak of war in Gaza, nearly 200 journalists and media workers have been killed.
