For twenty months, international media outlets have been quoting a man they called reliable, as he helmed a civilian division of the Gaza government. Now, it has been proven that that man is in fact a Hamas official whose job it has been to inflate casualty numbers and inflame global opinion against Israel. In a bombshell revelation that shatters 20 months of international media narratives, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have unmasked Mahmoud Bassal, the so-called “Gaza Civil Defense spokesperson,” as an active Hamas terrorist embedded in a civilian role for propaganda purposes.
The Terror Behind the Microphone
Mahmoud Bassal, who has become the go-to voice for global media reporting on Gaza’s casualty figures, has issued hundreds of statements to outlets including The New York Times, BBC, Reuters, Associated Press, and Al Jazeera. These outlets, long criticized for their uncritical reliance on Hamas-supplied data, now face a credibility crisis of their own: the IDF has published evidence that Bassal is not a neutral source but a full-fledged member of Hamas’s military wing.
According to intelligence gathered during ongoing IDF operations in the Gaza Strip, documents directly link Bassal to Hamas’s military apparatus. Among the findings are enlistment records and organizational listings identifying him as an official operative within the terror group.
📄EXPOSED: Mahmoud Bassal poses as a “Gaza Civil Spokesperson”. However, intelligence documents expose him as an active Hamas operative.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 8, 2025
Watch to see how: pic.twitter.com/hBjKyvKDC2
A Trojan Horse of Disinformation
“Bassal’s materials receive global media exposure and has caused a severe distortion of the reality on the ground,” the IDF stated.
Since October 7, 2023—the date of the Hamas-led massacre that launched the current war—Bassal has been a key source of purported casualty data and allegations of Israeli war crimes. These figures and accusations, largely unverified, have formed the backbone of anti-Israel narratives parroted by sympathetic media and international organizations.
Prominent Israeli advocate and author Douglas Murray has repeatedly warned that media reliance on data from Gaza’s so-called "health ministry" and "civil defense" was dangerously naive. “You cannot trust information that originates from a terror-run enclave,” Murray insisted. Now, those concerns have been vindicated.
— Douglas Murray (@DouglasKMurray) March 19, 2025
The Global Media’s Complicity
The IDF’s revelations put major news outlets in the hot seat. Despite Israel’s consistent warnings that Hamas manipulates casualty numbers and weaponizes humanitarian institutions, global media giants have continued to treat Gaza’s civil defense as a legitimate source.
The IDF has now issued a stern warning:
“We call on all media organizations to exercise extreme caution when reporting information supplied by the Hamas terrorist organization, and, in particular by (entities masquerading as neutral humanitarian bodies), Civil Defense in Gaza.”
XPOSED: The spokesperson for the Civil Defence Gaza, Mahmoud Zabar Tafesh Bassal, who issued hundreds of false statements to the International Media – is an active Hamas terrorist. https://t.co/PogUEKirW2
— Natasha Hausdorff (@HausdorffMedia) June 8, 2025
A Propaganda Victory Built on Lies
The exposure of Bassal's true role confirms what many in Israel and the pro-Israel community have long suspected: that Hamas has embedded itself not only in hospitals and schools—but also within the media narrative itself. Through carefully crafted statements, delivered in fluent English and Arabic, Bassal has weaponized international sympathy, manipulating headlines and shaping global opinion against Israel.
Each statement he issued became another tool in Hamas's psychological operations campaign—blurring the line between journalism and jihad.
After 600 days of nonstop genocide on the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal revealed a staggering toll.
— Translating Falasteen (Palestine) (@translatingpal) May 28, 2025
mahmoud_basal88 (IG) pic.twitter.com/BQgSWnax0U
Now What?
With these revelations, the question is no longer whether Hamas manipulates information—it’s how many more Mahmoud Bassals are out there, and how much damage has already been done.
In the words of one Israeli official:
“It’s not just that the world believed Hamas’s lies—it built entire policies, UN resolutions, and public opinion campaigns on them.”
As the war in Gaza enters its 9th month, the IDF continues to dismantle both the physical and ideological infrastructure of Hamas. Today’s revelation serves as a chilling reminder: the battlefield is not only in Gaza's tunnels and alleyways—but also on television screens and news websites around the world.
