Preliminary Note:
Unmasking the Staging: A Forensic Investigation of October 7th

On October 7th, Hamas did not only murder in Israel; it also killed the truth. On that day, a gigantic propaganda machine sprang into action. While „journalists“ from Gaza filmed the massacres in Israel and boasted about them on social media channels, the most prominent local photographers and cameramen inside Gaza simultaneously documented the euphoria over the alleged victory. They showed how hostages were tortured and dragged through the streets—and how they were brought into Gaza’s most important hospital, al-Shifa Hospital, to make them disappear into the tunnels. Not a single doctor or nurse from the hospital rushed to help; they merely watched in delight from their windows.

In my article „October 7th – Hamas Hostages at al-Shifa Hospital,“ I attempted to trace the path of the hostages in Gaza using available pictures, videos, commentaries, and news reports.
I think this was partially successful. A major obstacle was certainly the enormous amount of data that had to be reviewed, the language barriers, and the lingering unfamiliarity with the locations. It was time-consuming puzzle work. Much only became clear after very close examination. And much remains open to this day.
I have spent a very, very long time on this and received little support. All inquiries were ignored by official authorities in Israel as well as by the Israeli Embassy in Germany.
And yet, I believe I was able to shed some light for the hostages and their families during the dark hours of the morning of October 7th.
This second part now delivers the crucial new findings: It shows that nothing on that day was left to chance. It links the footage into a seamless storyline and proves how meticulously the media coverage was planned.
The continuation of this article now names the witnesses. These are the names of those who were on site and documented the transfer of dozens of hostages to al-Shifa Hospital.
It was „journalists“ from Gaza who photographed and filmed as the hostages were dragged into this hospital by their „Palestinian resistance.“ They did not help—no one helped, no nurse and no doctor. They all watched and cheered as blood-smeared hostages were dragged from vehicles into the hospital courtyard.
In the first days, they sold some of their footage primarily to media outlets in Arab countries. But even then, they manipulated the meaning of these photos: they described the Israeli hostages as wounded Palestinian civilians and concealed the location of the events. Then they slowly let their footage disappear. Their agencies hid it on their websites. And if a photo ever reached Western media, it was only with a manipulated caption. They were so sure that none of these editorial offices would bother to figure out the true meaning of the visual material.

The Witnesses
The anonymous pictures and videos that previously revealed no author now find their creators.
17 „journalists,“ some decorated with international awards, are the authors and creators of this visual material.
They are no longer anonymous. The pictures and videos get a face and a name. I have been able to identify 9 „journalists“ by name so far. Some of them actively operated Hamas propaganda on Telegram.
It was no coincidence, no journalistic „being in the right place at the right time,“ but rather precise preparation. When dozens of hostages are brought to a specific location like al-Shifa Hospital and a double-digit number of local, often internationally acclaimed „journalists“ with their cameras are already standing by—while in the background even a stationary camera crew with a satellite uplink vehicle (SNG) is positioned to broadcast the images directly to the world—this completely shatters the illusion of the uninvolved reporter. This unmasks these actors not as neutral reporters, but as witnesses and accomplices who were informed in advance about the arrival and condition of the hostages or were at least seamlessly integrated into the choreography…

Al-Shifa Hospital: The 17 Witnesses on Site – The Authors of the Footage from Oct. 7th

In the course of my research, I found 15 different photos by a total of 5 well-known Palestinian photographers from Gaza. I found these primarily in newspaper publications, on Telegram, or on websites. I only found one photo at a photographer’s agency. I acquired this photo immediately. All other photos were published predominantly in the Arab world and outside the Western world. I found no photos when searching under the keyword „al-Shifa.“

All captions conceal the true location of the events, al-Shifa Hospital.

*All photos of the 5 photographers used here are screenshots from publications, except for the single photo by Haitham Imad No. 04. They are not originals. The captions are taken from the respective articles and agencies.

Rizek Abduljawad (Xinhua)
Long-time photojournalist and correspondent for the Chinese news agency Xinhua in Gaza. Documented the arrival and exhibition of hostages at al-Shifa Hospital with his camera on Oct. 7th.

Original / Manipulated Caption
“Palestinians board an Israeli military vehicle in Gaza City on October 7. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Rizek Abduljawad).”
Gaza, 7th Oct, 2023. Palestinians are seen on an Israeli military vehicle in Gaza City, Oct. 7, 2023. TO GO WITH „3rd LD: Massive rockets fired from Gaza into Israel, at least 22 Israelis killed“ Credit: Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua/Alamy Live News
It was distributed internationally with this caption.

Abed Abu Reash (AP)
Freelance photojournalist who regularly worked for international agencies such as Associated Press (AP). Proven to have been among the cameramen in the courtyard of al-Shifa Hospital on the morning of Oct. 7th.

Original / Manipulated Caption
“A Palestinian rides with the body of an Israeli killed by Hamas militants in a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip fence in Gaza City, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Abed Abu Reesh)”

Imad Haitham (EPA)
Photographer for the European Pressphoto Agency (EPA) with long-standing presence in the Gaza Strip. Supplied visual material from the immediate vicinity of the arriving hostage vehicles at al-Shifa Hospital.

Mohammed Salem (Reuters)
Award-winning Reuters photographer whose images gained worldwide recognition. Stated to have been in direct connection with the reporting and procedures around al-Shifa Hospital on Oct. 7th.

Mohammed Talatene (DPA)
Freelance journalist and cameraman who reported from Gaza for the German Press Agency (DPA), among others. Documented the scenes on site while hostages were brought into the hospital compound.

Team Al Ashi

Osama S. Al Ashi (ARD)
Local media maker and liaison person who in this context was also connected with Western broadcasters such as ARD. Considered the head of the local network that coordinated movements and footage at al-Shifa Hospital.

Hassouna Salim
Journalist at Al Quds and photojournalist from Gaza, closely networked with Osama Al-Ashi’s media structures. Posted screenshots of the hostage video on Telegram early on the morning of Oct. 7th, even before the full material was published.

Mohammed Quandeel
Local media worker and photographer from the inner circle around Al-Ashi and Salim. Proven to have been positioned in the immediate vicinity on the morning of Oct. 7th and documented the events photographically.

Hisham M. Alnwajha
Journalist and photographer from Gaza who operated closely with the mentioned local media networks. Contributed through his on-site footage to the visual documentation of the hostage-taking at the al-Shifa complex.

Name unknown (SNG Team / Satellite News Gathering Vehicle)
Part of the stationary technical team that operated the satellite uplink vehicle (SNG) directly at al-Shifa Hospital. Research note: Inquiries to local media companies, satellite vehicle rentals, and the Journalists‘ Syndicate in Gaza remained inconclusive or were dismissed as „unknown“—evidence of the systematic cover-up of this professional setup.

Name unknown (Mobile Technical and Support Staff)
Close employee from the immediate circle of the mobile camera group. Research note: Here too, local official bodies and media organizations refuse any information to conceal the entanglement of this infrastructure in Oct. 7th.

Name unknown (Cameraman at the al-Shifa Compound)
This cameraman in a striped T-shirt films as hostages are led out of the green military jeep 703-145.

Name unknown (Cameraman with baseball cap / Journalist with blue press vest)
A black-clad cameraman wearing a baseball cap and a journalist wearing a blue press vest at the al-Shifa compound observe the green military jeep 703-145 carrying the Israeli hostages.

Name unknown (a second SNG team / transmission vehicle with red print „Press“ & journalist with blue press vest in front of the al-Shifa area)
Part of a second stationary technical team that operated the satellite uplink vehicle (SNG) directly at al-Shifa Hospital. It relieves the first team. It could be a transmission vehicle of the former ZDF partner company in Gaza. At the same time, the journalist with the blue press vest observes how the motorcycle with the body of Ran Gvili enters the driveway of al-Shifa.

The Chronology of Oct. 7th

First passive, then active – The control room in the morning

The chronology of this morning does not begin with a surprising event on the street, but in an editorial control room. The investigation starts in the office rooms of the media production company „Wide Media“ of Osama S. Al Ashi. The camera looks from a bird’s-eye view directly at the street scene and the entrance area of al-Shifa Hospital. In the background, the calls of the minarets echo through Gaza; it is the orchestral soundtrack for the terror of this morning. Even before the actors themselves enter the action on the street, this opening sequence captures the atmosphere in the room and establishes the passive observation position from which the subsequent events are controlled and analyzed.
The footage shows a terrifying transformation: how spectators seamlessly become accessories to the media staging—first passive, then active.

The complete text transmitted from the minaret loudspeakers reads:

“Allah is greatest, Allah is greatest. The Palestinian resistance strikes the occupying state, in support of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in defense of Islamic sanctuaries, as revenge for the blood of the martyrs, in defense of prisoners in the prisons of the occupiers, and the death toll in the control operation is rising and we cannot quantify it now.”

Passive: 2 men stare spellbound at their smartphones. At this moment they are still passive: They are live-tracking the broadcasts of Hamas terrorists directly from Israel. The camera documents up close how those present stare fixedly at the displays where the first Telegram reports and shock images from streets and victims make the rounds in real time. They consume the terror in real time, and they publish everything simultaneously on their Telegram channels.

A decisive Facebook post by Hassouna Salim from the morning of October 7th documents the converging personnel. A camera pan leads us into the hallway of the company building. Here stand men, three of them—led by Osama S. Al-Ashi himself—in blue protective vests with the unmistakable inscription „PRESS.“ The fourth man in the group, the photographer of this snapshot, is later identified as Hisham M. Alnwajha.

The Turning Point: Taking over the live direction:
Yet they do not remain passive observers. Together with Osama Al-Ashi (in whose office they are located), they already know precisely what is happening at this point. Upon viewing the livestream feeds from Israel, the decision is made to continue and take over this exact live reporting on the Gaza side. They now know exactly what is coming. The group splits up strategically.

Active: The division of labor (Quandeel and the al-Shifa team):
Mohammed Quandeel says goodbye and makes his way toward the Israeli border. His task: He acts as an advance observer, accompanies the hostage transport part of the way, and publishes the respective sequences in chronological order on his Telegram account, proving that he was not yet at al-Shifa at this time. Simultaneously, the main group around Osama Al-Ashi equips themselves and sets out from Wide Media with a clear destination: al-Shifa Hospital. They do not rush there because they were surprised by a sudden event. They go there because they saw the livestream. They proactively place themselves at the scene to receive the arrival of the Israeli victims with their cameras and start their own live broadcast.

The Black Jeep and Visual Documentation

The first intermediate sequence draws the viewer directly into the action and can be precisely located via a close-up: At a black jeep from which Naama Levy is dragged out, the scene unfolds in surprisingly calm, professional camera work (from about 160 meters away from the location of the later green jeep). A professional cameraman captures the aggressive group dynamic, the shouts, and the direct escalation around the vehicle in the immediate vicinity of the al-Shifa surroundings. Parallel to this, the digital wave surges high—an advance screenshot on Telegram published by Hassouna Salim reflects the excitement and aggressive group dynamics of this moment in real time.

Shortly thereafter, the video is published simultaneously by Quandeel and Salim on Telegram.

Minutes later, this black jeep is filmed on the al-Shifa grounds. Curious onlookers surround the vehicle. Yellow bars are meant to conceal the true events

The Green Jeep and the Nahal Oz Convoys

Before the main square is completely flooded, the camera switches to the intermediate sequence featuring reports by Quandeel from on the road. They document the strenuous transport and mood pictures on the streets outside the center.

The pace picks up when the first striking IDF jeep with license plate 703-145 reaches the al-Shifa complex. The vehicle is quickly enclosed by a surging crowd of cheering civilians and Hamas terrorists in civilian clothes. The hospital staff behaves passively and watches the proceedings. Armed terrorists struggle to hold back the frenetic mass. Loud Allah-u-Akbar shouts can be heard, machine gun fire dictates this situation.

A Glance Inside:

Amidst this chaos, a video sequence (bearing the Telegram watermark „ماسقلا فيس“) delivers a direct, unvarnished look inside the jeep. Between seconds 05 and 08, the fate of the young women from the Nahal Oz base who were crammed into the transport is revealed—a harrowing and central document of this phase.

Hamas relentlessly directs the staging on the al-Shifa grounds. Another photo captures one of the central scenes. It shows a cameraman filming the reloading of the Israeli hostages into an ambulance. The enthusiasm of the onlookers is palpable. An injured hostage lies on a stretcher, covered up, ignored, and surrounded by fanatical supporters of Hamas terror.

Two high-resolution shots capture this moment additionally; slightly staggered in time, but in the immediate vicinity of the jeep, they show the gawking crowd and the chaotic energy on site.

Shortly thereafter, another fleet of vehicles rolls up—at least four vehicles originating directly from the kibbutzim surrounding the Nahal Oz base. The event has long since attracted media attention: A genuine satellite uplink truck (SNG) complete with a fixed cameraman and editor is on site and covering the arrival live, as evidenced inter alia by footage from Rizek Abdeljawad (Xinhua).
How many vehicles and hostages drove onto the al-Shifa grounds during these 2 hours can only be guessed. The vehicles leave the hospital grounds after a short time.

The Drive Through Rimal

Osama Al Ashi’s camera is ready. He is now on his way back to the office. He pans further as the convoy leaves the al-Shifa grounds. The journey shifts to the Rimal district in the center of Gaza City, with a clear heading toward the coast and the sea. A video by Osama Al-Ashi’s team captures this procession: Al Ashi is in position, he knows what is coming now. The jeep and the other vehicles roll, densely packed with celebrating Palestinians united with terrorists, flanked by a flowing stream of civilian vehicles and companions lining the street.

The closing point of this chapter is set by Osama S. Al-Ashi’s video recording of the access road to al-Shifa and Abed Abu Reash’s AP photograph from the hospital’s inner courtyard: The motorcycle carrying the remains of Ran Gvili stops, surrounded by a cheering crowd of civilians and armed men.

The Seamless Connection Inside – The CCTV Timeframe (10:53 to 11:01 AM)

The digital world sounds the alarm: Via the high-reach Telegram channel „Gaza Now“ (with over 239,000 subscribers), a report including an image goes online documenting the transport of bodies of Israeli soldiers from the contested military positions into the Gaza Strip.

Directly afterwards, the documentation bridges the tumult from the outdoor scenes straight into the interior of the building. Between 12:00 and 12:30 PM, Osama Al-Ashi films from his office as the motorcycle carrying the body of Ran Gvili (who fell in combat near Kibbutz Alumim) arrives—while the CCTV surveillance footage published by the IDF in the exact time window between 10:53 and 11:01 AM reveals the immediate continuation of these procedures inside the building:

Video 1

Video 2

At 10:53:11 – 10:53:21 AM (CCTV Part I): The cameras in the entrance area and foyer of al-Shifa Hospital capture in civilian-dressed, partly armed terrorists bringing in two hostages (whether these are the very first brought into the hospital is unknown). They control the corridors and move recognizably familiar with the location through the hospital hallways while the medical staff reacts willingly. The separation between hospital and terror headquarters appears dissolved.

At 10:55:38 – 10:56:02 AM (CCTV Part II): In the hallways and corridors, an injured person is maneuvered on a stretcher, accompanied and dominated by the same armed forces that exercise control over the pathways inside the building.

At 11:00:36 & 11:01:01 AM: The surveillance cameras document the subsequent phases in the hallways, seamlessly closing the temporal and spatial chain between the street events and the admission into the clinical wing.

Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis: The Expansion of the Media Staging

Yet the further events on this Oct. 7th fit seamlessly into this picture. The reports by Hassan Eslaiah, Muthana Al Najjar, and their followers from Nir Oz fit just as neatly into this pattern as the footage from the south of Gaza, from Khan Yunis, and from Nasser Hospital. Here too, the media staging was implemented according to exactly the same scheme.
Amr Tabash, who worked for international broadcasters such as the BBC and Al Jazeera among others, filmed and photographed hostages being transported through the streets of Khan Yunis. Shocking scenes accompanied these transports.

Tabash seemingly accompanies this transport from the very beginning. The journey ends here too in a medical complex—the second largest in the Gaza Strip, Nasser Hospital. Screenshots from Tabash’s Instagram account prove his timely presence on site. There he documents how incoming wounded terrorists are brought into separate areas of the clinic and also records the transport of a hostage pictorially. In the meantime, Tabash has deleted the majority of this material from his account.

Further proof that hostages were also brought into Nasser Hospital is a photo published on a Telegram channel. It shows the Israeli hostage Eliya Cohen.

Conclusion: The Silence of the Witnesses and Structural Complicity

What unfolded on the morning of October 7, 2023, in the streets of Gaza, outside the gates of al-Shifa Hospital, and shortly thereafter at Nasser Hospital was no blind coincidence of war, but a meticulously recorded and publicly displayed staging. The seamless chain of evidence—from the footage at the base locations to the coordinated transport in jeeps, up to the CCTV footage and reports from the clinics—proves that medical facilities served from the beginning as central hubs and control points of terror.

The investigations on site paint a clear picture: At al-Shifa Hospital alone, 10 known and 7 unknown „journalists“ were present. At Nasser Hospital, at least one named journalist also filmed and photographed, though an even more intensive investigation needs to take place here. All these examples share a common pattern: Not one of these journalists ever reported truthfully on the actual events on site. Instead, the footage was concealed—or, if transmitted to agencies on Oct. 7th, provided with deliberately falsified captions to obscure the true location and context.

The investigations into al-Shifa and Nasser Hospital expose a clear system. They illustrate the fundamental importance of these clinics within Hamas’s strategy and prove that all involved actors were completely aware of this role. It must be concluded that little trust can be placed in the information provided by these journalists: They deliberately passed on what could harm Israel and concealed the obvious. The journalists named here and their immediate circle thus acted as willing instruments of Hamas propaganda.

At the beginning of the conflict, al-Shifa Hospital in the Rimal district formed the center of this staging before Hamas shifted its structures to the south after the occupation of the north by the IDF. Forensic processing breaks years of silence, exposes the actors, and confronts the public with the reality behind Palestinian media reporting.

Concluding Remarks