As Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) publicly claim their dead, new research shows that many previously counted as civilians were in fact members of the terrorist organizations, undermining accusations that Israeli forces deliberately targeted civilians in Gaza.
Researchers monitoring the -run health ministrys death reports told Fox News Digital that a growing number of “martyrs” were exposed as terrorists by their own groups such as Hamas, despite maintaining public identities as healthcare or media workers.
Gabriel Epstein, senior policy associate at Israel Policy Forum, told Fox News Digital that he has tracked multiple individuals named by Hamas and PIJ as martyrs killed in battle in Gaza who held positions in the health industry, including nongovernmental organizations (NGOs.)
Epstein found several individuals labeled as medical staff who are also members of terrorist groups. The most serious revelation from the martyr list is Fadi al-Wadiyya, a physiotherapist for Médecins sans frontières, who was killed by in June 2024. MSF responded to the death, saying they were “outraged” and “strongly condemn[ed] the killing of our colleague.”
When the IDF claimed that al-Wadiyya was a member of PIJ, MSF said they had “no prior knowledge” of his “alleged involvement in military activities” and said they had “not received any formal explanation” of “the circumstances of his killing.”
In a Telegram account claiming to be the media reserve for the Al-Quds Brigades, a post mourning al-Wadiyyas martyrdom on Feb. 24 lists the physiotherapist as an assistant to the military manufacturing unit of PIJs Al-Quds Brigades.
Fox News Digital asked MSF whether they were aware of al-Wadiyyas PIJ connections prior to the martyr announcement. A spokesperson said, “We would not knowingly employ people engaging in military activity” as it “would pose a danger to our staff and patients by compromising our neutrality.”
The spokesperson said that “MSF had no indication that Fadi Al Wadiya might have been involved in military activity of any kind prior to the Israeli authorities online posts in June 2024. In the immediate aftermath of Al-Wadiya’s killing, we asked for explanations from the Israeli authorities, but never received an official response. If the Israeli authorities were aware of Al-Wadiya’s links with militant activities, they never shared this info with us until after he was killed. To this day, the only information they shared and that we are aware of is what was shared through public social media posts.”
The IDF banned MSF operations in Gaza from the beginning of March because the organization refused to provide a list of its Palestinian employees. In response to Fox News Digitals questions about whether they would consider providing this list to the IDF presently, MSFs spokesperson said, “We did not share our staff lists with Israel because we did not receive concrete assurances to ensure the safety of our staff or the independent management of our operations. This is a place where humanitarian workers have frequently been detained, attacked, and killed. We have a responsibility to protect our colleagues from harm.”
Epstein shared several other cases of healthcare workers who played prominent roles in terror groups.
Mohammed Akram Abdullah al-Kafarna was mourned by the Palestinian Nursing and Midwifery Associations Facebook page as the nursing supervisor at Kamal Adwan Hospital and by the Institute for Palestine Studies as head of the Gaza nursing system. A Telegram account that lists members of Hamas best-outfitted Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, al-Kafarna is described as one of Beit Hanouns “Qassam Martyrs.”
Ayman Suleiman Aliyan Abu Tayr was listed as martyred in Khan Younis in June 2025. The Institute for Palestine Studies labels him as a nurse and head of the clinical nutrition department at Nasser Hospital. According to a Telegram account linked to PIJs
