A Palestinian photographer from Gaza who once received a Nobel Peace Prize nomination has confessed that he deliberately withheld footage showing a Palestinian mob assaulting Israeli hostages on October 7, 2023, choosing instead to shield those responsible, according to the New York Post.
Motaz Azaiza, who has met with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and appeared on the Time100 list, said he captured the violence on camera but chose never to release it, telling the Taqarrab podcast, "People got out, watched, beat them, hit them, and I followed them and filmed."
Azaiza further disclosed that every outlet operating inside Gaza funnels its coverage through a single Hamas-controlled WhatsApp channel, and that the terror group retaliates against any reporter who dares publish criticism, the New York Post noted.
Present in Gaza when Hamas paraded the abducted hostages through the streets on October 7, Azaiza became one of the territory's most recognized journalists during the war that followed.
Explaining why he kept the disturbing images private, Azaiza said, "But I did not publish those videos." "Why? Because I did not want to ruin the lives of the people who were filmed," the photographer said.
"I understood that Israel would use those videos to identify every person who was there and eliminate them," he continued. "I did not want to be responsible, even indirectly, for the deaths of those people in exchange for a few likes and views online."
Azaiza also revealed that "every journalist in Gaza" belongs to a Hamas-run WhatsApp group called "Smart," which coordinates how the war is covered and is overseen by one of Hamas's media directors stationed near the Rafah Crossing.
The photographer said he became a target of pro-Hamas outlets operating through that same channel after he circulated footage of a Gaza resident denouncing Hamas. "Photographers in Gaza have become accustomed to lowering their cameras the moment someone says something bad about Hamas," he said, "because anyone who dares to show reality is persecuted relentlessly."
Azaiza said the backlash eventually forced him to leave Gaza after he published material critical of Hamas, and he now resides in Qatar.
Even though Azaiza chose not to release the footage of the abused hostages, several captives who were marched through Gaza on October 7 later described their ordeal publicly. Itay Regev, who survived the Nova Music Festival massacre, recounted that Hamas drove him and other captives through Gaza's streets and displayed them to hostile crowds as human "trophies."
Video: Daniel Palmediala
Separately, outrage erupted after reports surfaced describing how crowds in Gaza jeered and spat on the corpse of slain hostage Shani Louk following her death.
Azaiza, in the same conversation, condemned Hamas for dragging Gaza into a war that has destroyed vast stretches of the territory and left an estimated 73,000 people dead, the New York Post reported.
He also accused Hamas of suppressing local journalists who tried to document the war's toll, a crackdown that pushed many, including himself, to flee the territory in its early months. "You brought us back to the Middle Ages," he said of Hamas. "You caused women in Gaza to urinate into a plastic bucket. This does not bother you, but what bothers you is if someone suddenly criticizes you?"
Time magazine named Azaiza among its 100 most influential people in 2024, citing his nearly four months of reporting that spotlighted civilian deaths and widespread destruction stemming from the Israel-Hamas war. Azaiza's public profile has grown to include a relationship with Mamdani, whose election night celebration he attended last November.
Yet despite the recognition he has received, Azaiza said the memories of what he witnessed in Gaza continue to haunt him. "Gaza is the most toxic place in the world. You love it, but at the same time you hate it. You love it, but it hurts you and destroys you," he said. "The reality there forced things upon me that I never wanted – the price we pay to satisfy leaders who do not count us is simply unimaginable."
