The vanishing terrorists: The New York Times' new Gaza reporting strategy - opinion

An opinion piece claims a study shows The New York Times adopted Hamas's casualty reporting strategy in Gaza, citing that 85% of 653 headlines on Palestinian casualties referred to civilians or Palestinians without distinguishing combatants, and only 14 headlines mentioned Hamas fighters other than named leaders.

An opinion piece by Lilac Sigan in The Jerusalem Post argues that The New York Times has fully adopted Hamas's strategy regarding casualty reporting in Gaza. The author cites a study conducted via Claude Code that analyzed 6,696 headlines about the October 7 war published between October 7, 2023 and October 10, 2025. Of these, 653 headlines dealt with Palestinian casualties in Gaza. The article claims that 85% of these headlines referred to civilians or simply to 'Palestinians,' without distinguishing between combatants and civilians. It notes that only 14 headlines referred to Hamas fighters other than named leaders like Sinwar, Deif, Haniyeh, and Arouri, and that half of these presented the information as an Israeli claim. The piece criticizes the Times for not questioning Gazan sources while questioning IDF assessments, and for not mentioning that cumulative casualty figures include Hamas fighters. It references the Al-Ahli Hospital incident as an example of false reporting. The author concludes that this reporting pattern reflects a complete internalization of Hamas's strategy.